Premonitions: Power Rangers SPD
by LttleDvl
Summary: Gruumm left behind a few cronies and one seeks revenge against SPD and the Rangers. This story is unfinished and unfortunately will remain that way as it went too far astray from the original storyline. Sorry folks.
1. Chapter 1: Premonition

The Rangers split up, each taking a different direction. They knew their quarry was close; they just had to find him and arrest him. Bridge rounded a corner, when his scanner beeped at him. "Troobian energy, dead ahead." he said to himself as he headed onward. The warehouse they had tracked this particular Troobian to was like all others; huge, dark and it had plenty of places to hide. Bridge continued along the catwalk, cautiously moving ahead as the energy reading he was following strengthened. He knew that he was almost on top of the monster. He heard a slight noise behind him and he quickly dropped and wheeled around to see four blueheads right behind him. He got up from his crouched position, ready to face them, when heard yet another noise.

"So, little Ranger, you thought you could take me all by yourself."

Bridge turned back around on the narrow catwalk to see the Troobian Treelatix and another four blueheads. Treelatix was large for a troobian, he easily stood a foot and half taller than Bridge. He rather resembled some sort of lizard, Bridge thought. He had a large bony plate that started out from the sides of his head, ending in a curve that jutted out from the back of his head. He was a greenish-blue in color and had a scaly-type skin, with small stubby spikes running along the length of his arms and legs. His eyes were a piercing bright blue, right now they were fixed on the Green Ranger.

Bridge found that he was surrounded with nowhere to go. He took a deep breath and steeled himself, getting into fighting stance.

"I'll take you in, no matter what, because you're a criminal and you want to hurt people. I won't allow that."

The monster just laughed at him, mocking him. "I don't think so Ranger, you're outnumbered and you're not even powered up. You are no match for us."

"Bring it on." Bridge replied.

All during the monster's speech, he had been slowly reaching for his morpher. He needed to contact the others and get morphed. Despite his brave words, Bridge knew the monster was right; he was no match for them in his powered down state. But he would put up a good fight anyway. His hand finally closed around his morpher and he took a deep breath, calming his nerves. He looked Treelatix square in the eye.

"You're under arrest, for crimes against Earth."

The monster laughed loudly once again, just as Bridge pulled out his morpher. He keyed the radio button, and then shouted out, "Rangers! Treelatix is on the south wing catwalk..."

An energy shot from behind him sent the morpher flying from his hand. Bridge dropped to one knee, wincing in pain and cradling his now injured hand.

"Fool!" The Troobian and the blueheads advanced on him, closing him in further. "Your friends will be too late. You will make a fine trophy for Emperor Gruumm."

The monster threw his head back and laughed maniacally once more, as Bridge stared up at him, anger flashing in his eyes. The monster swept out his hand. "Take him!"

Instantly, the blueheads jumped, preparing to attack, when several energy shots from below knocked them all back.

"Bridge!" Bridge looked down to see Jack and Syd below him, powered up and weapons drawn.

"Hang on, buddy, we're coming!" Jack yelled up at him.

Treelatix snarled in anger. "Fools! You are too late. Attack them!" The blueheads jumped down from the catwalk, landing in front of Syd and Jack. More blueheads materialized behind them.

Treelatix just laughed as he reached down to grab Bridge.

"No way." Bridge said and he swept his leg out, catching the monster off guard and knocking him to the ground. Bridge jumped up and flipped back putting distance between himself and the Troobian. He could hear the sounds of fighting becoming louder from below. Z and Sky must have joined Jack and Syd, he thought.

Treelatix quickly recovered from Bridge's attack and got back up to his feet. He snarled at Bridge.

"I shall have you one way or another, Ranger." He pulled out an energy pistol and aimed it at Bridge.

Bridge quickly glanced around, looking for somewhere he could move to, but being on a catwalk 30 feet up in the air wasn't giving him many options. He braced himself, deciding that he would have to roll under the energy blast when the Troobian fired. It would be close. As Bridge prepared to move and the monster to fire, a flash of blue leapt over Bridge to land between him and Treelatix.

"I don't think so." Sky said as he swept his arm out in a circular motion, quickly erecting a shield around himself and Bridge.

"What!?" The Troobian snarled in anger. "You will not deprive me of my emperor's prize."

He aimed at Sky just as Bridge felt a hand on his shoulder. He quickly spun around to see Z, morphed.

"Bridge, c'mon. Let's move out of here."

"Right." He nodded back at her.

He began to back away, with Z right next to him and Sky walking backwards, his shield being pummeled by laser fire from the Troobian's weapon. Just as Bridge and Z reached a platform that would lead them down from the catwalk, Bridge heard something behind them. He turned to look and saw a bluehead aiming directly for Z, who didn't seem to realize that it was there.

"NO!" He shouted, and threw himself at Z, knocking her down out of the way just as the bluehead fired.

Syd came running up the stairs, shooting the bluehead from behind, while Jack appeared behind the Troobian, trapping it between himself and Sky.

"You lose, monster." Jack said as he pulled out his morpher, prepared to do justice.

Treelatix laughed menacingly. "Not today, I think." Another great laugh and a burst of bright light that blinded the rangers came from the monster, only to leave behind a wisp of smoke where the Troobian had been standing.

Jack relaxed his stance. "Well, that could have gone better."

"No kidding." Sky replied.

"Bridge!" they heard Z cry out. Jack and Sky quickly ran over to where she sat, with Bridge lying next to her, unmoving.

"Z?" Jack asked as he approached.

Z powered down and the others could see streaks of tears running down her face as she looked up at them.

"He's dead."

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Bridge awoke with a start and sat bolt upright in his bed, sweat trickling down his back. He sat there, panting as the dream slowly released its grip on him. He took a steady, calming breath and glanced over at Sky. His roommate slept on, oblivious to Bridge's nightmare. Bridge swung his legs down off the side of the bed and got to his feet. He quickly changed out of his sweat soaked pajamas and slipped on a green S.P.D. tee-shirt and his uniform pants. He grabbed his jacket and stepped out of the room, and into the rec room.

He was still a jumble of nerves and was trying to decide if what he'd just had was a dream or a premonition. Sure, he knew that being a ranger had its risks, especially after he'd been caught by Bork and nearly crushed by a wall. But knowing the risks and seeing yourself die was two different things.

How long he stood in front of the window staring out at the city while his thoughts ran wild, he couldn't tell. Though it seemed like mere moments, he knew that some time had passed as the sky grew ever lighter. Eventually he heard a slight hissing noise behind him and he turned to see his fellow rangers enter. Jack looked a bit surprised to see him standing there, probably because out of all of the rangers, Bridge was the one most likely to sleep in if given the chance.

Jack raised his eyebrows at him. "Up early?"

Bridge nodded. "Yah, you could say that."

"Strange for you." Z chimed in.

"We know you're a bit weird and all, but getting up early is odd even for you." Sky continued with Z's jesting.

Bridge just shot them all a long suffering look. "Ha, ha, how funny. You two should give up being rangers and go into business as a comedy act."

Sky looked rather affronted and the other rangers all looked perplexed, but it was Jack who spoke up. "What's eating you?"

Bridge just sighed and shook his head. "Nothing, I'm...just a little off. Didn't sleep well."

Z didn't look entirely convinced, but decided to let it go anyway. "Oh. Well, how about some breakfast? Toast? Nice and buttery!" She held out a plate of toast, grinning at Bridge.

Bridge gave her a look and then walked over to the bar and sat down. Z shoved the toast at him.

"Aren't you going to say 'buttery'?" She asked with a smirk.

Bridge screwed his face up at her. "No." Then he stuck his tongue out at her. The others all laughed and sat down with their own various choices of breakfast items. Bridge picked up a piece of toast and began to nibble at it. Maybe, he thought, today will be quiet so that I can get all this sorted out.

Just then, the alarm went off and Kat's voice rang through the intercom. "All rangers report to the command center."

So much for a quiet day, Bridge thought as he followed the others out.

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The Rangers all walked into the rec room, each flopping into a chair. "Who would've thought a bunch of krybots would be so tough." Sky commented to no one in particular.

"I don't get it." Syd said as she shook her head. "Every time we've encountered them before they've either been right there with a troobian or a bluehead to command them. But there wasn't either in sight."

"I know." Z said as she crossed her legs over the top of each other. "What were they up to? It's like they didn't really have a purpose, except to wait around for us to show up."

Jack nodded his head in agreement. "Unless that was their purpose."

The others all looked at him quizzically.

"What do you mean?" Sky asked.

Jack leaned forward towards the others, sitting up from his relaxed position on the couch. "Think about it. There's got to be some bigger plan coming into play here. What if the krybots were running around just to distract us from whatever is really going on?"

"That does make some sense." Sky responded.

"But what is really going on then? And who's behind it all?" Z asked.

"Guess." Syd replied. "Who else could it be other than Gruumm?"

"Exactly." Jack said.

"But what is he up to?" Sky asked.

"We have to find out what his plan is." Jack said.

Sky looked up to where Bridge stood in front of the window. Ever since they all had arrived back at S.P.D. headquarters, he hadn't said a word. "What is up with you anyway, Bridge?" he asked. "You haven't been yourself all day and you didn't seem to be giving it your all when we were fighting those krybots."

Bridge turned to look at him. "Nothing. I told you before that I'm just a bit off because I didn't sleep well."

"Sure, whatever." Sky said and got up and walked off.

"Sky..." Syd said after him. Jack stood up and put a hand out to stop her. "Let him go." He looked back over at Bridge. "He's right you know. There's more going on than you just being a 'bit off'. You'd better get over whatever it is that's bugging you." Jack turned and walked out of the rec room.

Syd and Z looked at each other and shrugged. Syd got up and left, trailing Jack out. Z walked over next to where Bridge stood, still looking out the window.

"Bridge," she asked quietly, "are you okay?"

Bridge sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "Yah, I'm okay." He looked back at Z. "I'm just really tired."

Z wasn't convinced, but knew Bridge well enough that he wasn't going to say anything otherwise unless he wanted to. She nodded her head once and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Okay. Just remember that if you need anything, you know where to find me."

He nodded at her slightly. "Alright."

Z turned and began to head out of the rec room turning back to look at Bridge as she stepped out of the door. He continued to stand in front of the window. Bridge, she thought to herself, I really hope you are okay.

----------------------------------------------------

Sky walked into his shared room to find Bridge already fast asleep in his bed. Figures, he thought. No chance at getting anything out of him that way. He heard a slight snore come from Bridge's bed. Sky just rolled his eyes and threw his jacket onto the chair next to his bed. In the morning, buddy boy, you and I are going to have a serious talk, he thought to himself as he sat down on the edge of his bed and pulled off his shoes. Definitely in the morning.

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For the second night in a row, Bridge found himself waking in a cold sweat. He was shaking slightly throughout his whole body.

No, this can't be real; he thought frantically as he pulled his knees up and buried his head in his hands. He remained sitting with his head and hands pressed against his knees until he finally stopped shaking. He slowly raised his head and took a deep breath.

He glanced over at Sky, who was still asleep. Bridge was relieved that his nightmare hadn't awakened him. As much as he cared for his fellow rangers and was willing to do anything for them, how was he supposed to explain to them that he was afraid that his dream might come true?

He put his head back down on his knees for a moment more, unsure of what he should do. He heaved a great sigh, then raised his head back up. He took one last glance over at Sky who slept on, then he hopped out of bed and headed out of the room.

As the door closed, Sky's hand crept out to grab the clock that sat on his nightstand. It read 3:30am. Sky just sighed and put the clock back. He figured it would be better off if Bridge had some time in which to get himself put back together. Sky only hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

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Jack was the first up, or so he thought as he walked into the rec room to find Bridge sitting on the bean bag chair facing towards the window. Jack shook his head and walked over to where Bridge sat.

Only to find that Bridge was actually asleep. Jack wondered how long he had been there. Maybe he really wasn't sleeping well and that was why Bridge hadn't been acting like his usual self. He half-turned as he heard the door open to see Z and Syd walk in.

"Hey Jack." Z said as she waved her hand at him. Syd just squinted at him. Jack had to remind himself that Syd really _wasn't_ much of a morning person after all. He heard a slight noise coming from nearby and turned back to see Bridge stretching and yawing. The noise Z and Syd made as they had come in must have woken him up.

Bridge looked up to see Jack practically standing over him. "Hey." He said. "Hey." Jack said in return and stuck his hand out, offering Bridge a hand up. Bridge grinned a bit and grasped Jack's hand, letting him help him to his feet.

Jack just looked at him with a quirky grin on his face. "You really are weird, you know that, right? But in a good way."

"Sure." Bridge replied. "Anyone would have to be weird to hang out with you."

Jack just laughed and gave Bridge a shove towards the bar. At least Bridge seemed to be back to more of his normal self, despite his latest choice in sleeping arrangements.

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Once again the rangers all wandered into the rec room, each looking a bit weary, Bridge most of all.

"This just doesn't make any sense." Sky blurted out. "What is the point? What is it that Gruumm is really up to? I'm getting tired of doing this stupid song and dance with group after group of krybots that seem to have no direction whatsoever."

"I know." said Jack. "We all are. Has Kat come up with anything?"

After the first few hours of the day had seen the rangers chasing groups of krybots all across the city, they had finally asked Kat to scan for anything that might give them an indication of what Gruumm was really trying to do. Unfortunately, the presence of the all the krybots were also showing up, obscuring anything else.

"Not that I've heard." Syd said. "I just talked to her a few minutes ago; she hasn't been able to pick up anything."

"I just wish we had some kind of clue as to what's really going on." Jack sounded thoroughly frustrated, something the other rangers did not like to hear often. Everyone practically took a breath at the same time, indicating how wound up they all were.

Jack looked around at his comrades, noticing that they all seemed to be a bit on edge. Jack's glance stopped on Bridge, who was once again standing in front of the window with his arms folded across his chest. Jack thought back to earlier in the day when Bridge had seemed to hesitate for just a moment when he was fighting some krybots.

Jack didn't think the others had noticed, but he had been looking right in Bridge's direction when it had happened. Jack still didn't know what was up with him, but he suddenly decided that he had had enough. Jack got quickly to his feet and strode over to where Bridge stood. The others looked at Jack in surprise, not sure what was going on.

"Bridge." Jack said from behind. Bridge steeled himself before he turned to face Jack, knowing that it had been only a matter of time before one of the others would confront him. Bridge tried to look coldly dispassionate as he faced Jack.

"What?" he asked.

Jack shook his head. "I should ask you that. What has been up with you lately?"

Bridge just shrugged. "Nothing. It's just that..."

"You haven't been sleeping well, yah, we know. We heard that already." Jack said.

Z, Syd and Sky had gotten up by this point and had come to stand nearby Jack. Bridge seemed to be taken aback by this and was at a loss of what to say next.

Jack pointed a finger at him. "Look, you can try to pretend all you want, but we're not going to buy it anymore. You're distracted, you haven't been sleeping hardly at all from what Sky says and it's beginning to affect your fighting ability in combat."

Bridge put a hand up to and started to take a step back. "Just wait a second..."

"No, Bridge, Jack is right." Sky spoke up. "This has got to stop, now."

Syd had taken a stance next to Sky, her arms crossed defiantly across her chest.

Bridge started to shake his head at them, holding up a finger. "You guys don't know..."

"You're right. We don't know." Jack cut him off. "But that's because you won't tell us what's going on."

Z had moved around the couch and was standing to the left of Bridge's side. She could see that he seemed to be torn about telling them something. It bothered her that Bridge would hold something back from them, but she wasn't sure that confronting him like this was the best way to find out.

Bridge tried to back up further, but with the window behind him, there wasn't really anywhere for him to go. He took a deep breath and looked hard at the others, figuring he'd be able to have one last go at getting them to back off.

"Guys," he said trying to sound cheerful, "there's really nothing going on..."

Jack almost growled at him. "No! You are not going to just keep blowing us off. Something is really bugging the heck out of you and we're not going anywhere until you tell us what it is."

Bridge started to say something, but this time it was Sky who interrupted him.

"Cut it out, Bridge. You've been trying to hide something from us for the past day and a half. It's time you told us the truth. What are you hiding?"

Z could practically see him beginning to wilt under the pressure Jack and Sky were putting on him, and almost wanted to yell out and make them stop, but she too wanted to have Bridge get whatever it was that was bothering him out in the open.

Syd had also moved forward and took a stance next to Jack and Sky. "Really, what is up with you? We all know you're a bit odd, but this is goes beyond your normal weird."

Bridge looked rather hurt and a bit angry at Syd's words, but Jack continued. "Look, we need to know."

It seemed to Z that Bridge was starting to become agitated.

Jack went on with his tirade. "When it gets to a point that you can't do your duty effectively anymore..."

Jack was cut off as Bridge exploded at him. "How well do you think you'd do if you thought the next battle you went into was the one that killed you!" he shouted.

Jack, Syd and Sky were shocked and surprised by Bridge's outburst. Z stepped up next to Bridge and she could see that he was shaking slightly. "Bridge?" she asked quietly.

Bridge bowed his head and closed his eyes for a second, then sucked in a large breath. He raised his head back up and looked at his fellow rangers.

"You know I'd do anything for you guys, or S.P.D or Earth, but knowing you could have to sacrifice your life and actually seeing it happen are two completely different things."

"What do you mean, see it?" Z asked.

"For the past couple of nights, I've had this dream where we're battling a bunch of blueheads and a Troobian and I lose my morpher and end up dying..." Bridge trailed off and just stood there in front of his friends.

"It's just a dream, Bridge." Sky said.

"No, I don't think so." Bridge replied. "Remember when I had those dreams that we were fighting robot after robot? And it actually happened. I mean, it was even the same robots I saw in my dream. What if this is like that? What if I'm seeing the future again?"

Bridge plopped down on the chair next to him, staring at the floor. He was determined not to break down in front of his friends, but it was becoming hard to keep it all at bay.

Jack and the others all sat down as well as Jack thought of something. "In those dreams with the robots, you said we were defeated. That they beat us."

Bridge looked up at Jack. "Yah, so?"

"So, that's not what happened. We went out there and we beat them instead. So who's to say that this dream won't turn out the same way?"

"Really? I didn't think about that." Bridge said.

"Yeah." Z stated. "Besides, you know we'll all be there and we wouldn't let anything happen to you."

The rest of the rangers voiced their agreement. Bridge smiled slightly. "Yah, I know."

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Already into late afternoon, the rangers had lost count of how many groups of krybots they had tracked down and defeated. This latest batch to turn up was in the warehouse district. All five of the rangers pulled up in front of the building and began to scan the area.

"I'm reading multiple krybots." Jack said.

"They're everywhere." Syd agreed.

"Wait a second." Z spoke up. "I'm also detecting troobian energy."

"Then this could be what they've been building up to." Sky said. "All this time we've been running around chasing bots, this could be the place from where they plan to make their move."

"Good point." Jack said. "Right now we should locate the troobian and bring him in for questioning."

"Agreed." All four of the other rangers said at once.

"Let's split up and cover more ground." Jack said. "Keep in contact and radio in if you find anything at all."

"Right!" they chorused.

They then split up, each one headed in a different direction. After what seemed like hours of searching to her, Z finally picked up the stronger signal of the Troobian, indicating that it was somewhere nearby. Z keyed her communicator. "Z here. I've located the troobian. Southwestern side of the building. I'm going in for a closer look."

"Okay, Z. Be careful." Jack said over the communicator.

Bridge was in the southern portion of the building as well, sneaking amongst some boxes. Krybots were everywhere, though they didn't appear to be doing anything useful. He turned slightly so that he was facing in a westerly direction, figuring he could catch up to Z and help her out if she needed backup.

"Guys. I've found him." Near the back wall of the southwest corner, Z spoke into her communicator. She peered over the top of the stack of boxes she crouched behind. "There's a bunch of krybots moving some boxes. He's..."

Bridge heard her get cut off just as he rounded a corner to see a krybot take a swing at Z.

"Z!" He jumped up and charged the krybot, pistol firing.

But the krybot never had a chance to strike Z. She had heard it approach her from behind and she ducked and rolled out of the way to come back up with her own pistol drawn and fire on it.

By now, the troobian was well aware of the commotion going on just off to his left. He directed a handful of krybots to keep working while he had the rest follow him towards the sounds of fighting.

The krybot fell to the ground, smoking. Bridge rushed over to Z, crouching next to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yah." she replied. "But now I wonder what that monster is up to."

"I'll bet you'd like to know, wouldn't you?" Behind them, Bridge and Z both heard a booming voice. They turned to see a large troobian looking down at them. Bridge was startled to see that it was the same troobian from his dream.

"A couple of Rangers. This should be fun." He laughed.

Krybots emerged from behind the stacks of boxes to surround Z and Bridge. They both stood up, back to back, standing ready.

The troobian laughed maniacally. "Attack!"

Z swung her leg out, catching a krybot's foot and sending it crashing into another.

Meanwhile, Bridge flipped himself over swinging both legs out, kicking two bots in the head and knocking them down.

The Yellow and Green Rangers heard another evil laugh come from the troobian. "Is that the best you can do?" They looked around themselves to see that more krybots had moved in on them. Bridge and Z both stepped back and took up fighting stances.

The krybots began to slowly advance on them.

"Hey!" a shout came echoing out of the nearby shadows. Sky, already morphed, stepped out from behind some boxes off to the left of where Z and Bridge stood in the center of the circle of krybots. Syd appeared off to their right while Jack came out from behind the Troobian. They too were morphed.

The troobian looked at each of the other rangers. "How nice! Three more rangers to add to my collection. You're just in time to watch your friends be defeated!"

"I don't think so." Jack said. "Rangers, go!"

Syd jumped up and spun herself through the air, striking three krybots before she came to land.

Sky ran forward and hit two krybots with a roundhouse swing and took out a third with a kick that knocked its feet out from under it.

Jack charged the troobian, jumping up as he closed in, to end with both feet hitting the monster square in the chest. The monster staggered back a bit, but did not fall.

Bridge and Z were fighting from within the circle of krybots, each of them scoring punches and kicks on several bots. The krybots were still trying to advance on the un-morphed rangers when Syd came running through, swinging her striker as she went. She pulled up short in her charge when she reached her friends.

"Guys! Go!" She pointed back behind herself at the path she had just cleared.

Z and Bridge both broke into a run, down the way Syd had pointed. They came to a stop when they were free of the krybots, then turned and looked at each other.

"Ready?" Bridge asked as he grabbed his morpher.

"You know it!" Z replied as she reached for her own.

"S.P.D. Emergency!" they said in unison.

The Green and Yellow Rangers took one last look at each other, and then split off, Bridge running off to help Sky as Z headed in Syd's direction.

Bridge fired on a krybot that was taking aim at Sky's backside. He flipped himself over the fallen bot to land behind the Blue Ranger.

"Want a hand?" Bridge asked his comrade.

Sky turned slightly towards Bridge's direction. "I suppose I could use one." He replied.

The two rangers turned their backs toward each other, facing out at the group of krybots that surrounded them.

"Then let's give these metal heads a beating they'll never forget!" Bridge said.

Sky and Bridge fired their blasters at the same time, then they each rushed forward at the nearest krybots, kicking and punching as they went.

Nearby, Z and Syd were also battling a group of krybots. Syd cart wheeled herself towards two krybots, landing just behind them and hit both with the back of her fists. Z jumped up and took out two more with powerful kicks to their chests.

Jack, meanwhile had closed the distance between himself and the troobian and hit him down and across his chest with his striker.

"Agh!" The troobian cried out as he fell back away from the Red Ranger. The others came up and flanked Jack on either side as the last of the krybots fell to the ground in a shower of sparks and smoke behind them.

Jack pointed at the monster. "You're done for! Time for judgment!"

The troobian got to his feet and laughed. "Not just yet." He waved his hand and instantly more krybots appeared along with a few blue and orange heads.

"You've got to be kidding." Sky said as he looked around.

"This is so not good." Bridge shook his head.

"Beat them if you can, Rangers!" The Troobian shouted and vanished in a puff of smoke.

The five rangers put their backs to one another and took up defensive stances.

"I think it's about time for S.W.A.T. mode. Don't you guys think so?" Jack said.

"Oh yeah." Z replied.

"Absolutely." Sky agreed.

"Definitely." Syd said.

"About time, I'd say." Bridge spoke.

"S.P.D. S.W.A.T. mode!" They cried in unison.

The black swat gear appeared around their morphed ranger uniforms and their delta enforcers appeared.

"Let's take out these bots, then get that Troobian!" Jack yelled.

"Right!" The Rangers broke their circle and spread out; shooting, kicking and punching their way through multiple bots.

The Troobian had reappeared next to the boxes that a few krybots continued to stack. A few more to go and then he could transport his acquisitions up to Gruumm's ship. Before this day was over, he vowed to himself that he would have at least one Ranger to present to his emperor as well. Gruumm would reward him handsomely, he knew.

As the last box was stacked in place, he directed the remaining krybots to join in the fighting. He hit the control on his transport remote and the boxes vanished from the warehouse floor.

"Now, time to finish this." He said to himself.

The rangers re-grouped in the center of a circle of krybots. They had taken down three-fourths of them, but there was still quite a few left. They were all starting to get tired and Jack was concerned if they would have enough left to take on the troobian as well. He was about to get his answer.

"Had enough yet, Rangers?" the booming voice seemed to come from nowhere and then suddenly the Troobian monster reappeared in front of them.

"We can take whatever you can dish out." Jack replied.

"You only wish that were true." He said with a laugh. "Get them!"

The remaining robots closed in on the rangers as they began to fire at them. Sky followed up a shot from his enforcer with a kick to a krybot's leg that sent it sprawling in the path of an orange head, knocking the second robot to the ground.

Syd swung her arm around and landed a hit on the side of the head of a krybot, causing sparks to fly around her.

Z crouched down and twisted herself around tripping another krybot and a blue head.

Jack rushed towards the troobian, hitting it in the chest with a few blasts from his enforcer.

"Ergh." Bridge heard the grunt from the troobian and looked up from where he had taken down a blue head just in time to see the monster stagger back from Jack's energy blasts. That was when he noticed he held a small device in one hand. Bridge figured it had to be important and he decided he'd lend Jack a hand and hopefully be able to grab whatever that device was.

"Give it up, creep. You're going in." Jack stood defiantly in front of the monster.

The Troobian straightened himself up and looked hard at Jack. "You'll never take me in!" He pointed the hand that held the device in Jack's direction.

Bridge jumped in at the side of the Troobian and grabbed a hold of his outstretched arm, struggling to get the device from the monster.

"Gotcha!" The troobian yelled triumphantly and laughed wickedly, and then both he and Bridge vanished in a puff of smoke.

Jack stood dumfounded staring at the spot where Bridge and the Troobian had stood just seconds before.

Syd, Sky and Z ran up to him as the rest of the robots fell to the ground.

Sky turned towards Jack. "What just happened?"

Jack shook his head. "I wish I knew."

_**To be continued**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. No copyright infringement is intended.


	2. Chapter 2: A Ranger Is Tested

"Report!" Commander Cruger spoke to the assembled four rangers.

Jack took a deep breath before speaking. "Sir, I'm not sure we know exactly what happened out there."

"Right." Sky added. "We had seen that the Troobian was vanishing and then reappearing, but we weren't sure how he was doing it at the time."

"But we know now." Z chimed in.

"A teleportation device." Cruger nodded his head. "But what was he using it for? You said that when you first arrived on the scene, that krybots were moving some boxes around."

"Yes, sir." Z replied.

"What happened to those boxes after everything was over?" Cruger asked.

"They were gone, sir." Sky said.

"So there's no telling what was in them. Or more importantly, what their contents are going to be used for." Cruger paced back in forth in front of the command console.

He stopped and turned to face the rangers. "This is not good. I'm sure that Gruumm is up to something big and that can only spell trouble for us. And all of Earth."

"What do you think we should do?" Syd asked.

"I want you all to keep a careful watch out for this Troobian. If he reappears anywhere, let me know immediately. We have to find out what it is that he's been collecting for Gruumm." Anubis "Doggie" Cruger had yet to say what he knew was on everyone's mind, including his own.

"Yes, sir!" The four rangers saluted in unison and prepared to leave the command center when Cadet Z Delgado stopped short. She turned back to face Commander Cruger.

"Sir?" she asked. The other three rangers stopped when they heard her voice.

"Yes, Z?" Doggie asked, knowing the question had finally come.

"What about Bridge?" He could almost hear her voice aching with concern at the loss of their friend.

The other cadets shifted nervously behind her, waiting for Cruger's answer.

Doggie took a deep breath and lowered his head for moment. He looked back up at his rangers, trying to convey confidence, a feeling that at this moment, he didn't have.

"I don't know, Z." He told her flatly. "I can only surmise that since this troobian was delivering items to Gruumm using the teleportation device, that he also teleported Bridge there as well."

Cruger noted the worried looks that passed over all their faces, at the idea of their friend being in the hands of Emperor Gruumm.

Sky couldn't seem to take it anymore as he stepped forward. "Sir, we have to do something!"

Cruger looked him in the eye and tried to impress a sense of calm upon the Blue Ranger. "I know that, Sky. But right now, the only way we are going to get Bridge back is to bring this troobian in first."

Doggie could see Sky struggling with his emotions, they all were; but it was Jack who spoke up. "You're right." He turned to the other rangers. "We have to track down that creep and bring him in for questioning. It's probably the only chance Bridge has."

The others all nodded their agreement. "We'll start looking back over the warehouse. Maybe we can find some clues as to what he was moving around in there in the first place." Syd suggested.

"Good idea, Syd. That's as good a place to start as any." Cruger told them. "Keep me informed." He spoke to their backs as the rangers departed the command center.

He turned back around and faced Kat, the only one who hadn't said anything the entire time. She gave him a troubled look.

"Doggie, if Gruumm really does have Bridge..." she spoke, but Cruger stopped her in mid-sentence with a wave of his hand.

"Don't say it." He said.

She sighed. "We have to face the possibility that..."

"I know. But I'm not ready to make that call just yet. I'm not ready to give up on him." Cruger told her.

Kat straightened up a bit more. "Me neither, sir."

-------------------------------

Z Delgado stood in the rec room, staring out the large picture window at the city sprawled before her. She had lost count of how many times in the past few days she had seen Bridge in the exact same pose. She let out a sigh and rapidly blinked her misty eyes. She had thought of Bridge often in the past days, but she had recently come to realize that she thought more of Bridge than just being a friend and team mate.

"Girl, what are you doing?" she said to herself quietly.

"That's what I'd like to know." A familiar voice sounded from behind her. She started to smile even before she turned to face her oldest and best friend.

"Jack, what are you doing here?" She asked him.

"Hey, I am the Red Ranger, you know. I think I'm supposed to be around here on occasion."

Z increased her smile as their familiar pleasant banter made her feel better. "You could belong anywhere, Jack." She replied.

"Nah, I don't think so. There are places I wouldn't want to go and some that I'm sure wouldn't even have me at all!" Jack smiled at his friend.

He knew she'd been rather distant in the past few days. Of course, they were all worried about Bridge, but it seemed to Jack that Z was taking it a bit harder than the rest of them. Almost too hard, in fact. He didn't know exactly what it was, but it seemed like something was going on between her and Bridge.

Jack shook himself mentally. Or, it could just be that his own concern over his missing friend was clouding his judgment as it seemed to be doing to everyone else. In fact, he had caught some odd looks on the faces of Kat and Boom, even Cruger's a few times. He couldn't help but feel at a loss himself, either.

The last time Bridge had gone missing, he had been confident that he would find his lost friend. Unlike then, Jack didn't have that confidence now. He smiled back up at Z.

She gave Jack a curious look. "What are you smiling at?" she asked.

"You." He replied, smirking. "I can't help it if I want my friends to be happy." His smile faded slightly as his thoughts instantly turned to the one friend that wasn't there.

Z noticed the shift and sighed heavily. "Yah, I know. It seems impossible to go more than a few moments without thinking about him." Her face fell and Jack could see a range of emotions play across her features.

"Z." He spoke softly as he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I swear, we'll get him back. Somehow. We'll figure out a way."

Z looked into his eyes and fervently wished that what he said was true.

-------------------------------

In a cell high above Earth's atmosphere, Bridge sat in a corner with his knees drawn up to his chest, his chin resting on top of them.

"Well, Jack was right about one thing, my dream didn't turn out like I thought it would." He glanced around at the barren, wire cage-like cell he was in. "Not that this is any better."

He flopped his forehead against his knees and sighed. "Stupid, Bridge. Utterly, utterly stupid."

"So nice to know that we don't have to torture you too much, if you're already doing it to yourself." A high pitched voice rang out from above him.

He jerked his head up to see Morgana standing outside of his cell. He narrowed his eyes at her and she just laughed.

"So, are you enjoying our hospitality yet?" She sneered at him.

"Hmm..." he tapped his lips with his finger. "I've stayed in worse places. You don't offer toast as part of your complimentary breakfast, do you?" he smirked at her.

Morgana scowled at him. "How funny. You'll see how funny it really gets around here when Gruumm calls for you." She turned on her heel and left through the doorway that led to his cell.

Bridge rested his head back on the bars behind him and stared up at the ceiling. He'd been in a lot of tight spots over the past several months, but he'd always managed to get himself out of them somehow. This time, he wasn't so sure he could.

"That's why you're stupid. Stupid for going after that monster and falling right into his trap. Why did I ever think I could take him on? Especially since it should have been apparent that the device he had been holding was a teleporter?" He shook his head at himself. While he wasn't completely sure that it couldn't be used from a distance, there was probably a good chance that the troobian wouldn't have been able to do anything to Jack with it.

"Unless you get too close to it. Like grabbing the arm of the monster holding on to it." Bridge growled slightly at himself and smacked both of his fists onto the floor next to him in anger. He'd been stuck in this cell for what seemed like days, but he really couldn't gauge the true passage of time. Since he'd been brought in here, he alternated between berating himself for his actions, frustration at being stuck in this cell and lately, depression, as the reality of his situation would hit home on occasion.

The odds were high that the S.P.D. was not going to come after him. He was stuck on Gruumm's ship, where it would be almost impossible for anyone to infiltrate, they probably didn't know his location anyway, and by now, they probably had him figured for dead.

Why Gruumm hadn't killed him yet, he didn't know. He thought back to Morgana's earlier comment and the mention of the word torture. He knew that his fate would probably lead to exactly that. And then death. Probably a slow, painful one.

He closed his eyes and fought the bitter depression he felt welling up inside himself. Rangers don't think hopeless thoughts, he thought to himself. His conscience seemed intent to pick him to little bits today. Yah, and most Rangers don't get them selves caught in a trap by their worst enemy.

He placed his head back down on his knees and struggled to keep from breaking down completely. The last thing he wanted was for his captors to know how close to the edge he really was.

-------------------------------

Sky and Syd arrived at the warehouse where they had last battled the Troobian. Syd pulled out her scanner and began taking readings. "Well, there's not much energy to pick up on anymore. At least not right here." She turned slightly to look back at Sky, who stood next to the patrol jeep.

Sky stared at the building before him, thinking back to the last time he was in there. He only remembered that Bridge had come up behind him offering to help take out the bots he had been fighting, and then in what seemed like the next second, Bridge had vanished.

He had never even noticed when Bridge had left his side and he mentally cursed himself for it. He had known Bridge ever since he had entered training at the academy and knew that his friend was unorthodox sometimes, even to the point where he wound up putting himself at risk. Sky suspected that Bridge had to have seen something that they all had missed that would make him interfere with Jack's battle with the troobian. He just wished he knew what it had been. More than that, he wished that Bridge had not charged that monster in the first place. Then Sky wouldn't be out here searching for stray clues that might not even help to bring their friend back.

"Sky?" Syd asked. She saw him visibly jerk himself out of his reverie.

"What?" he asked in a gruff tone. Syd knew that Sky was just as affected as the rest of them about Bridge's disappearance, but he continued to try to cover it up whenever he thought he someone might notice.

Syd shook her head slightly at him, thinking that he would need to express his feelings sooner or later, otherwise they would tear him apart. But she didn't voice her opinion, instead she turned back to the task at hand.

"We're here to look for clues, remember? So why are you still standing out there?"

Sky shot her a withering look and stepped up next to her. "Just checking everything out before we step in. To make sure there aren't any hidden surprises."

"Right." Syd replied. "C'mon let's start looking. I really want to get over to where all those boxes were. We might be able to pick up on something there."

Sky nodded his agreement and the Blue and Pink Rangers entered the large building.

-------------------------------

Back at S.P.D. headquarters, Kat continued to scan for troobian energy. She was looking for one specific energy pattern in particular. Nearby, Boom stood at a console, pretending to upload schematics into an LCD pad, while R.I.C. sat next to his heels, looking up at Boom.

Boom could practically hear R.I.C. whining, although the robotic dog didn't utter a single noise. Boom thought that R.I.C. had to be feeling the loss of Bridge just as everyone else was. After all, if it hadn't been for the Green Ranger, R.I.C. might not even be sitting there right this moment. Boom thought back to the time when he and Bridge had worked together to overhaul and upgrade the robot.

Boom knew that the all the rangers considered him to be their friend, but he seemed able to connect with Bridge most of all. Even though there were plenty of times, Bridge had him just as confused as anyone else; his off-beat wit went well with Boom's own odd humor. Though his was rather like a sub-compact car to a massive semi-truck in comparison. Boom lowered his head and sighed.

Kat's delicate ears picked up the noise her assistant had made. Boom was not usually this quiet, and Kat didn't even bother to ask what was wrong, she knew already, as she felt it too.

"Boom." she called.

"Yes?" Boom turned around to face Kat. She smiled slightly at him. "I wish I could say that everything will be alright, but I'd be lying to you and I think you'd know that."

Boom just nodded at her.

"But we are going to do the best we can and we're not giving up without a fight." She continued.

Boom drew himself up and gave her a more confident look. "I know. And I'll do whatever it is you need me to in order to make sure that happens."

Kat turned back to her work and Boom did the same. She only hoped that their best efforts would be enough.

From nearby Boom's ankle, R.I.C. did whine.

-------------------------------

Two krybots walked down one of the corridors of Gruumm's ship, dragging something between them. They finally reached their destination and practically threw their burden into the wire-rimmed cell. They closed the cell door behind them and then left back down the corridor they had come from.

Bridge lay on his side in the cell, as pain wracked his entire body. He shut his eyes tightly and focused on trying to relieve the spasms that passed through every muscle. He drew in a great shuddering breath and slowly rolled himself on to his back, where he just lay panting in the center of the floor, every nerve on fire.

He still really didn't know how the device worked. All he knew is that it looked rather like a pen with three prongs on the end of it. But when Morgana had touched the prong end to his body, the effect was pretty immediate. And severe.

He had lost count of how many times she had stuck him with that thing, as Gruumm looked on and continued to ask him all manner of questions about S.P.D. Through it all, Bridge never spoke one word. He would never, ever, betray Earth, no matter what the cost would be to him.

It was pretty sickening how both Morgana and Gruumm seemed to enjoy the agony they bestowed upon him. If anything, Morgana seemed more ruthless about it. Gruumm was just out to get whatever information he could in anyway possible, while Morgana seemed more like a kid who was fascinated with a new toy.

He let out a small gasp of pain as one last shudder passed over his body. As the tension left his muscles and the pain finally began to lessen, Bridge could feel himself growing tired and weak. He fought to remain alert, but his body had been through too much in the past few hours. His eyes closed as he fell into blackness, losing consciousness.

-------------------------------

Z threaded her way through several hallways within S.P.D. Headquarters. She didn't have a destination; it was just that walking seemed to be helping her organize her thoughts. Not that she had made a whole lot of progress, however. She knew she was worried about Bridge, everyone was, but she thought that maybe she was concerned for completely different reasons.

Z had grown up on the streets alone for most of her life. The only person she had ever gotten close to was Jack. He was her brother and the only family she had for years. Then she found S.P.D. and her family grew. They had some problems getting along at first, but they finally bonded together in ways that sometimes surprised her. Like now.

She had started to notice a few months ago that her feelings towards Bridge had begun to change little by little. Sure, he was a goof ball at times, but he always seemed to make her laugh. More than she ever thought she could. She cared for all of her friends here, but whenever she thought of Bridge, it struck her emotions in deeper ways.

She paused in her walking and looked out the large window that was off to the side of her. In her wandering, she had gone all the way down to the main lobby entrance. She took a deep breath and tried to settle her thoughts. It didn't work.

"Z?" she heard a small voice call from behind her.

She turned to see Sam looking up at her. "Hey, Sam. How's it going?"

"As well as expected, I guess." was his reply. Sometimes Sam's comments went way beyond his years. As she looked intently at his face, she could see the same worry etched there as she did in so many others.

"Oh, Sam. I don't know what to say." She couldn't sugar coat the truth for him, though many others did because of his age. She thought that trying to shield the boy all the time wouldn't do well to form the strong, confident ranger he would become.

Sam just nodded. "I know. It's just that I'm getting sick of hearing everyone tell me how it's all going to be okay when I see by looking at them, that it's not."

"Sam..." She placed a hand on his back and guided him over closer to the window, out of the way of foot traffic. "We are doing everything we can to get him back. It may very well turn out okay after all." I hope so, she thought.

Sam looked at her sullenly. "Then why is everyone walking around like they're depressed all the time?"

Z took a deep breath before she continued on. "We're all just really worried about him. That doesn't mean that we've given up on him."

"I know you wouldn't, but it's still tough to think about it." Z was a bit puzzled by his comment, unsure if he meant all of the S.P.D. personnel involved, or just her specifically.

She sighed and put an arm around Sam's shoulders. "I promise you, we are all doing everything we can think of. Sky and Syd are back checking out that warehouse he vanished from even now."

Sam looked back up at her, a bit of hope entering his expression. "I hope so, Z. I..." he paused briefly. "I kind of like him. Actually, I like quite a few people here. I'm not used to being worried about other people, you know?"

Z smiled down at him and nodded. "I know what you mean. They kind of grow on you after a while don't they?"

"Especially Bridge. Even if he is a big goof. You like him, don't you, Z?" Sam looked directly at her.

Z was caught totally off-guard by Sam's unexpected question. She couldn't tell if he was just asking in the innocent way only children could or if he meant something more serious.

"Ye-s-s, Sam." She stuttered slightly. She gave Sam another encouraging smile.

He smiled back at her and stepped forward and hugged her around her waist. "Thanks, Z." He said as he backed away and walked towards a hallway. He turned back and waved to her.

She waved back at him, thoughts swirling more rapidly than before as she watched him leave. Yes, Sam, she thought, I do like him. I think I may even be in love with him.

-------------------------------

Sky and Syd finally reached the area of the warehouse where they had been fighting the Troobian and the krybots. Syd glanced around, taking a deep breath. She shuddered inwardly at the thought that this might be the last place any of them would have seen their lost friend at.

Sky glanced over at Syd who had stopped in the center of the floor.

"Hey; I thought we were working, here?"

Syd turned and glared at Sky. It irked her that he could be so dispassionate about this whole situation.

"Right." She said tersely and tossed her golden locks over her shoulder with a swing of her head. She studied the scanner in her hand, but the energy traces had all dissipated some time ago.

She continued to walk around the space while Sky had nothing to do but stare around at the contents of the warehouse. He hated being idle like this. It gave him too much time to think about things he really didn't want to.

Sky had lost a lot in his life; his father, his dream of being red ranger (although he was now totally cool with the way everything had turned out) and now the loss of one of his best friends.

Once before, he thought they all had lost Bridge and it almost killed him. He didn't want to admit to anyone how much of a friend he really was. Including to Bridge himself. It seemed odd, but of all the Rangers, Sky felt closer to Bridge than any of the others. Like the little brother he never had. Sky spent most of his childhood alone and without many friends and he had hardly ever had a reason to feel happy.

After he had first met Bridge in the Academy, Sky couldn't stand him. He seemed annoying at the best of times and downright obnoxious at the worst. But over the few months spent in training, he had come to realize that Bridge was the one of the only people to ever really make him laugh. It was then that Sky vowed to himself that he would protect Bridge whenever he could. Because he wasn't sure that he would ever be able to find laughter again if something were to happen to his friend.

Syd stopped in her tracks as a faint trace of something blipped across her scanner.

"Sky." She called back. "I think I might have something."

Sky shook his thoughts off and walked over to stand next to Syd. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure. I only caught a faint trace of something, and now I can't seem to get another reading on it."

Sky stared down at the scanner in her hand which showed nothing when a tiny glint on the floor caught his eye.

He squinted closer at it and bent down to get a better look. He found that if he looked hard enough he barely make out a translucent dust.

Syd crouched down next to him, "What is it?"

"I don't know." He replied as Syd waved her scanner directly over top of the scattered dust particles. The device blipped briefly.

"Well, it's definitely a clue. She pulled out an evidence container and began to pick up the tiny particles one at a time, taking care that she got them all. Sky helped her by looking for more, as they were very difficult to see.

When they had all they could find, Syd closed the box and stood up. "I think we should take this back to Kat."

"Agreed." Sky said. Both he and Syd headed out of the warehouse, back towards the patrol jeep.

-------------------------------

Bridge slowly came awake from his nightmare. This time he'd dreamt that he'd been captured and tortured by S.P.D.'s enemies. As he began to sit up, a dull ache made its way up through him as he realized that he was not lying in his soft bed. He was on a cold, hard floor. No, no, no; he thought frantically, as his mind raced to keep up with what his senses told him.

It wasn't a dream after all, as he spied the cell walls that surrounded him. The coldness of the floor seeped up through his uniform, seeming to chill him to his very soul. He really was trapped in a hopeless situation and he had in fact just gone through hours of excruciating torture. He laid back on the floor and covered his eyes with his hands as his shoulders began to shake with silent sobs.

The reality of it all set in like a demon of ill-omen. Bridge continued to lie there, shaking as tears trickled down the sides of his cheeks. He knew that he was going to die here, slowly and painfully. He would never see any of his friends again. Never would be able to tell them all how much they really meant to him. Especially to one in particular. He would die, cold and all alone.

No, he thought harshly, you are nearly 20 years old, you will **_not _**break down and cry like a baby. He tried to get a hold of his panicked thoughts. You area **_Ranger_**; rangers do not break down into fits of tears.

But an insidious thought crept into his mind. Rangers also do not allow themselves to be tricked into such a stupid situation in the first place. He drew a shuddering breath, then suddenly and fiercely reined in his thoughts.

Enough, dammit! You **_are_** a ranger and you **_will_** get out of this if you'd stop and actually **_think _**for once! Yes, he knew that he was more scared at this moment than he'd ever been in his entire life, but he was **_not_** going to let his fear control him any longer.

He sucked in one last breath and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. He was looking up at the ceiling above him, where for the first time he noticed what appeared to be a small access panel. He gingerly sat up, moving slowly as he waited for the aches to die down. When he got into a full sitting position, he looked back up at the ceiling and what he hoped would be the key to his salvation.

Bridge Carson would no longer sit back and quaver with fear; he now had a purpose.

-------------------------------

Jack was half lying, half sitting on his bed. Aimlessly throwing a small red ball at the wall opposite of him; where it would bounce back to his spot on the bed.

Syd and Sky were still out checking for clues at the warehouse; while Kat and Boom worked feverishly in the lab as they tried to come up with something, anything that would help them locate their missing friend. He couldn't even to begin to guess at what Commander Cruger's thoughts were, and honestly, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

If the commander thought that it would be impossible to get Bridge back, Jack knew it would crush his resolve. What little of it remained, that is. He hurled the ball at the wall, hitting it hard enough that the ball bounced off at an odd angle and he totally missed catching it.

What am I doing in here? He thought to himself. I shouldn't be sitting here playing around; I should be out there doing something. But there was nothing for him to do.

All their hopes rested on Kat's determination to pull something off and any clues Sky and Syd recovered. If there was any to find at all. He knew the warehouse was pretty clean. He and the other rangers had scanned just about the whole building from top to bottom after Bridge's disappearance. They had turned up nothing.

Jack was concerned for his fellow team mates. The way this thing continued to drag on was really starting to affect everyone, and he had begun to sense that their unease was beginning to rub off on the rest of the S.P.D. personnel.

Jack sat up on the edge of his bed and sighed. He ran a hair over his locks, pushing them back from his forehead, wishing he could find a way to offer support to his fellow rangers. Or at least bring up their spirits a bit; especially Z, as she seemed to be a bit more shaken than the others.

He suddenly had a thought, thinking about Z and her reaction. "No way." He said it aloud and with exaggerated slowness. He got up and went looking for Z.

After about twenty minutes of searching, he finally found her sitting on a bench outside in the little park area in near the S.P.D. building.

He walked up and sat next to her, not saying anything at first, just staring out at the small expanse of grass.

"Jack." "Z." they both began at the same time. Jack chuckled slightly as Z smiled a little bit. "You go first." Jack said.

Z's smile quickly faded away and Jack could see a dark cloud pass over her eyes. "Jack..." she began. "I'm at a loss of what to do. I feel so helpless."

"I know, Z. We all do..." Jack spoke.

Z cut him off. "That's not what I mean." Jack looked puzzled.

"Then what it is?" he asked.

Z looked at her friend, not sure if she could reveal this, even to him. She closed her eyes and looked away from Jack.

"Z? What is it? Tell me, please?" The anguish he saw in her eyes at that moment totally shattered the last bits of his resolve.

"It's Bridge. I...I... think I might be in love with him." Jack could hear the pain and loss in her voice as it cracked on her words.

Jack couldn't think of anything to say in response; so instead he just put his arms around her and drew her in close. He could feel her shaking slightly and all he could do was to hold onto her while his mind began to analyze what she'd said.

Part of him was happy that she'd found someone she felt she could love, but the other part was troubled since that love centered on a S.P.D. cadet and fellow Ranger. S.P.D. had some pretty strict rules about personnel becoming intimately involved with each other.

He knew, because after he'd first arrived here, he'd seen some very pretty cadets that he wouldn't have minded getting to know better, but as he'd jokingly made a crack about hitting on a cadet, Bridge had turned serious and told him the S.P.D. policy for conduct amongst its ranks. Verbatim.

Jack found it highly ironic now, as he held onto a fellow ranger who had feelings for the very same cadet that had given that speech.

He felt Z's shaking begin to lessen and he slowly let her go. She sniffled once or twice and wiped tears from her eyes.

"Some great vision of a Ranger, I must be, huh?" She said lightly, poking fun at herself.

"You look great, Z." Jack told her. Z smiled back at her friend.

Jack's and Z's morphers chirped at them simultaneously. Jack answered his first. "Jack here."

"Jack, Syd and Sky have just arrived back from their investigation. They've found something." Jack and Z exchanged a look.

"Z and I are on our way." He replied. He flipped his morpher closed and stood up. Z got up as well. "Let's go see what they got."

They both headed for the doors to the building.

-------------------------------

Bridge had spent the past several minutes surveying the room and the cell he was in. As far as he could tell, there didn't seem to be any recording devices mounted anywhere.

Which bode well for his plan, as he would have to climb up the cage-like walls of his cell in order to reach the access panel. He really didn't want anyone to see him do it either, as it would pretty much ruin any chance for escape he might have.

He heard some footsteps echoing from the corridor nearby and he listened intently. After another moment more, they continued away down the hall.

Bridge took a deep breath and prepared to put his plan into action. He stood up, just slightly slower than he normally would. He was relived that he seemed to be recovering well from his 'questioning session' with Gruumm and Morgana as she had termed it.

He vowed to himself that he would personally see Morgana put in prison. Preferably for the rest of her life. He stopped his train of thoughts right there before they continued down that particular track. It was true, Morgana deserved punishment, not only for what she had done to him, but for every other crime she had committed against Earth and its inhabitants.

He just stood there for a moment, calming himself. The last thing he wanted was to begin thinking in terms of revenge. Not only was it unworthy of a Ranger, but it would only make him no better than her in the end.

He looked back up to the task at hand. "Gotta stay focused." He said to himself. He moved closer to the door that was cut into the cell bars and began to climb up them as if they were a ladder.

He kept climbing, but as he neared the top, he was quickly becoming tired and slightly winded. Maybe, I'm not in such good shape as I thought I was, he mentally told himself. When he reached the ceiling, he paused there for a moment, clinging to the cell bars as he tried to catch his breath.

When he felt slightly better, he looked above his head to see the access panel mere inches away. He stretched out his right arm towards it, while he kept a firm grip on the cell bar with his left.

He caught hold of the latch for the panel and turned it. The panel door swung open. Circuitry blinked out at him. Bridge couldn't help but grin slightly. This was something he knew he could handle!

He began to examine each wire carefully, trying to determine where each lead to, but it was impossible as all the wires spread out from each other in a twisted mass, running underneath the ceiling.

His fingers brushed a circuit and he received a small shock to the tip of one of his fingers. "Ow!" He said as he drew his hand away. Suddenly he had an idea. He looked down at himself, eyes skimming across his uniform until he came to the small S.P.D. rank bar.

He thought that it should be small enough that he could maneuver it throughout various parts of the open panel. He reached down and unpinned it from his jacket. He started to place it against the open circuit, when he stopped. "Oh, right."

He laid the badge carefully on his chest, then using his teeth slid his glove partially off of his hand. He wadded the loose part of it between his fingers as best he could as he picked the badge back up. He hoped the thin material would protect his fingers from being scorched too badly.

He placed one end of the badge onto the open circuit and felt a small shock pass throughout his entire body. There was more power in there than he had realized. He had better move quickly, he thought. Even though he knew it was a low-voltage current, simply by the fact that it hadn't killed him outright; it was not a good idea for anyone to be exposed to an electric charge for too long.

He placed the opposite end of the badge on one of the wires, then glanced around. Nothing seemed to change. He quickly changed to another wire, going through three more in rapid succession until there was a brief flicker of the lights in the room.

"Now we're getting somewhere." He kept at it, going as quickly as he possibly could, as he could tell that between his already weakened state and the added stress of the electricity pouring through him, that he would not be able to maintain his position up here for much longer.

Then was a sudden popping sound from below him and he glanced down to see that the cell door had opened just a mere fraction. He quickly moved his hand out of the access panel, but his fingers had gone a bit numb by this time and the badge slipped from his grasp to clatter to the floor below.

Bridge held his breath as he listened intently for any sign that someone might have heard. When he didn't hear anything right away, he quickly reached up and closed the door to the panel and began the climb back down.

As soon as his feet hit the floor, he swayed and he grabbed the cell wall behind him in order to keep from falling over. He felt incredibly dizzy and a sudden spurt of weakness sent him sliding down the wall to sit heavily on the floor.

His vision began to cloud and he was having trouble focusing on anything. A stray thought made it through Bridge's fuddled mind. The door!

He realized that the door was still just a hair open. He needed to close it all the way before someone noticed. While they wouldn't notice that the door lock didn't work anymore, or so he hoped, they would certainly note that the door was open.

He leaned forward onto his knees and crawled to the door. He grabbed a hold of it and pulled on it until it was flush against the surrounding framework. He closed his eyes for a moment, then crawled to the middle of the floor, where he retrieved his rank pin. He placed it back onto his jacket then collapsed face first onto the floor.

-------------------------------

Jack and Z walked into Kat's lab to find Syd and Sky already there. Kat was examining something through her microscope.

"What did you guys find?" Jack asked out loud.

"Some kind of translucent substance. There wasn't much of it, but we picked up all we could." Sky replied.

Kat straightened up from her scope. "Well, I don't know what it is yet, I'll have to continue to run some tests. What I can't figure out is why it's putting out so much energy."

Syd and Sky looked puzzled. "What do you mean? The energy reading I got from it was so small that the scanner could hardly pick it up." Syd told her.

"That's exactly it. These are very small particles; they shouldn't be putting out any kind of energy at all. I'm certain that it's not some kind of proximity exposure from being too close to another energy source either. Whatever these particles came from, it's extremely powerful."

The four rangers quickly glanced at each other. This did not sound like good news for Newtech City.

The door to the lab slid open and Cruger walked in. "Have you got anything yet Kat?"

"Not very much. All I can tell for certain is that we're dealing with something that puts out a massive amount of energy. I still don't even know what 'it' is yet." Kat told him.

"This can't be good. Gruumm must be up to something serious." He turned to the Rangers. "Any luck on finding the Troobian?"

"No, sir. We've been having the area constantly searched for his energy pattern, but so far, there's been nothing." Jack answered.

"Then keep at it. We have to be ready. If Gruumm has some new powerful weapon, he may strike at any time." Cruger told them.

"Yes, sir!" The Rangers saluted the Commander and left the lab, headed towards the rec room.

"This is ridiculous! We aren't making any progress!" Sky said in an angry tone.

Jack and the girls stopped in the hallway. "We are making progress Sky. You and Syd found that stuff, we have constant scans going..." Jack spoke.

"That's not what I mean. We should be doing something to get Bridge back!" Sky looked at the others, waiting for their reply.

Z stepped in front of him. "What exactly do you expect us to be doing? We don't have a way to track him down unless we catch that creep. We don't even know where he is."

"Yes, we do. You know as much as I. He's on Gruumm's ship." Sky stated.

Jack shook his head "We don't know that for certain, Sky. Besides, even if he is there, what can we do about it; try to break onto the ship?"

"Yes." Sky said simply.

"Okay, that is officially nuts." Syd spoke up. "You really want us to try get onto Gruumm's ship? There's no way Cruger would go for that."

"I never said Cruger had to know." Sky told her.

Jack stepped in a bit closer to Sky, waving both hands. "Whoa! Hold on a sec. What you're talking about doing is outside of our authority. It would be a violation of orders; we could be expelled. Or worse."

"I don't care." Sky said. "I'm tired of waiting around and doing nothing while Bridge could be..." his voice trailed off.

Jack could see Sky's expression change from anger to something else. He took a look at both Z and Syd, and saw the same thing. He took a deep breath. "I can't believe that I'm even willing to consider this."

"You mean you'll let us do it?" Z asked.

He shot her a look. "When did this suddenly turn into 'us'?"

Z walked over and stood pointedly next to Sky. "Sky's right. We have to do something. No matter what the consequences are to us."

Syd threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. "Since when did this turn into a madhouse? It's insane! Think for a second, would you? Even if you could 'somehow' get aboard the ship, you don't have a way to get there in the first place. Then on top of that, you don't know exactly where on the ship Bridge is or even the layout."

"I can find out." Z replied.

"Guys." Jack spoke up. "I know you want to do something, really I do. Hell, so do I for that matter. But I don't think Bridge would be happy with us if we got ourselves kicked out of S.P.D. in the process. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want that."

Sky and Z just stood there for a moment, Sky staring at the floor. "You're right. He wouldn't want that." Z said.

"He'd be pissed." Sky added.

"Exactly. And I don't think any one of us wants to deal with a pissed-off Bridge." Jack said.

Sky smirked a little.

Jack gave them all a sly look. "We need a better plan."

-------------------------------

The Troobian Treelatix walked through the corridors of Gruumm's ship. He was pleased because Gruumm had given him the biggest reward he'd ever received from the Emperor by bringing him the Green Ranger.

He also enjoyed watching Morgana's interesting questioning methods. He hated the Rangers just as much as his Emperor did; they always seemed to be getting in the way, disrupting plans for Earth's takeover.

Treelatix growled to himself as he thought of the rangers. "They deserve to be punished." He said to himself as he turned from the corridor into a room.

He glanced at the figure that lay on the floor within the cell. He unlocked the door, opened it and entered. He stopped as he got to the side of the ranger. He smiled evilly as pulled his foot back and kicked the ranger in the side, hard.

"Ugh!" Treelatix was rewarded with a groan from the ranger. He slowly rolled over and looked up at Treelatix. "Get up!" the troobian yelled.

Bridge saw that the Troobian standing over was the same one that had caught him. He slowly got up onto his knees, when Treelatix grabbed him and pulled him the rest of the way up. Bridge winced slightly.

"The Emperor wants to ask you some more questions." Treelatix told him. He laughed again when he saw the look on the ranger's face.

----------------------------------------------

Jack, Sky, Syd and Z sat around in Sky and Bridge's room. Z couldn't help but feel saddened being surrounded by all of Bridge's stuff. She couldn't even begin to make herself sit on his bed. She had chosen instead to sit next to Sky on his.

They had been in here for almost an hour, trying to work out a rescue plan.

"No, I don't think that will work either." Jack said. He pounded his fist onto the bed. "Dammit! There's got to be a way we can do this!"

Syd just shook her head. "I don't see how. We've thought of possibly everything we could and they will either get us expelled, arrested and court-martialed or dead."

"Then we have to start thinking differently." Z said.

"What do you mean?" Sky asked.

"Isn't there an old saying 'in order to defeat your enemies, you have to think like them'?" She said. "If the Troobians wanted to break into S.P.D., how would they do it?"

"They'd try to storm the building?" Syd hazarded a guess.

"They would sneak in. They would pose as S.P.D. somehow and sneak in so they could gain access." Sky said.

Jack's face lit up as he got an idea. "They'd just walk straight in." Syd and Sky looked perplexed, but Z smiled at him. Jack looked at the blue and pink rangers. "They would allow themselves to be brought in. Then they would break out of their cell, and try to take over."

Syd arched her eyebrows. "You want us to let them catch us?"

"Yep." Z replied. It's the only way. We'll get taken to Gruumm's ship, where we can get loose, break Bridge out and get back and we'll never get into trouble with Cruger, because he wouldn't be able to fault us for being captured."

Sky looked at her. "That sounds like something Bridge would say." She just smirked back at him.

Jack spoke up. "The only thing is, we're going to have to play this out as we go. We'll have to use everything at our disposal to pull it off."

The other rangers all nodded.

"I say we do it." Sky said.

"Let's go for it." Z agreed.

They all turned to Syd, she had seemingly been the most reluctant about the whole idea. "Ok, I say we go. I can't say I really like the idea of going into something like this with so many unknowns, but I can't sit around and not do anything any more either."

"Alright." Jack said. "I'll swing by Kat's lab and pick up what we need, then I'll meet you all in the vehicle bay."

"Right." Sky said then he stuck his hand out in the middle of them all and looked expectantly at the others. Z, Syd and Jack added their hands to his.

-------------------------------

Bridge made his way quietly through the corridor, glancing cautiously about himself. He was lucky that he had made it this far. Already he had been passed by a few groups of krybots. Each time he heard them approaching, he would duck into some nearby shadows, or behind a support pillar and hold himself so still that he practically stopped breathing.

Now that he had made it out of his cell, he was searching for a way off of the ship. He didn't even know if Gruumm had smaller transport ships. Most of the time when the rangers had encountered troobians, they had just appeared. It was then that it hit him. What he really needed was to get his hands on a teleporter.

Even if Gruumm did have a ship he could hijack, it would be fired upon as soon as it moved away from the larger one. Bridge was a good pilot, but he wasn't sure that he would be able to pull off performing tricky maneuvers given his current condition. He paused for a moment, holding on to the wall with an outstretched hand as a wave of dizziness passed over him.

He shook his head to clear it and looked back up the corridor. He was fairly certain that this was the way towards the science labs. He had studied his surroundings very carefully during his last trip to and from Morgana's 'session'. He had spied a room that had looked very promising as he had been escorted past the open doorway.

As he neared the end of the corridor, he looked up and down the intersecting passage. It was empty, and more importantly he saw the doorway he wanted.

He slipped quickly across the corridor and through the doorway, glancing around the room as he stepped in. Shelves lined with various instruments lined the walls. A large table stood in the center room, littered with more devices and various tools.

Bridge spotted a familiar flash of white, red and black. He hurried over and looked down at his disassembled morpher. "Oh great." He muttered to himself. He picked it up and pocketed in his jacket. His eyes continued to scan the room, lighting upon a slender silver device.

Bridge walked over and picked it up. It looked nearly identical to the one Treelatix had been holding when he had been captured. "Yes!" he said softly to himself. He looked up quickly as he heard footsteps echoing down the corridor.

"Find him!" Morgana's furious voice echoed down the hall. "He has to be here somewhere. And once I get a hold of him again..." Bridge didn't near to hear the rest of her sentence; his imagination filled in the blanks easily enough.

He saw a supply closet off to his right and he quickly made his way over to it. Carefully opening the door so as to not make any sound, he peered inside. While it held quite a bit of machinery, there was still some room. Room enough for one skinny ranger, he thought.

He stepped in and quietly pulled the door closed just as he heard footsteps enter the room he was just standing in. He backed his way up to the far wall of the closet, wishing he could meld into the wall at that moment. He glanced down next to him at a large squat machine. An idea popped inside his head.

He pushed the machine forward slightly and managed to crouch down and squeeze himself between it and the wall. Just as he curled himself up as small as he could manage, he heard the closet door open and light from the adjoining room shone on the back wall.

There was a tense moment in which Bridge didn't even dare to breath. Then the door closed again. He let out the breath he had been holding in and listened to the footsteps withdraw.

He took a deep breath and crouched over to the door. He placed his right ear against the door and heard nothing. He stopped himself before he grabbed the door handle. He had to be sure the way was clear.

Bridge slipped his right glove off and concentrated as he waved his hand through the air. His physic abilities told him that there was no one nearby. He heaved a sigh of relief and slipped his glove back on as another wave of dizziness hit him.

He had found out at the start of his journey that the stress his body had been through in the past several hours affected his ability to use his genetic powers. The first time he had done it without thinking; as soon as he had gotten out of the cell and he had almost passed out from the searing pain that tore through his head.

Bridge closed his eyes and steadied his breathing until the dizziness passed. Then he slowly opened the door and made his way into the room.

He headed quietly for the corridor, knowing he'd have to find a less conspicuous spot to figure out the teleportation device he held in his hand.

As he emerged from the room, Treelatix was almost on top of him. "Gotcha again!" He shouted as he made a rush for Bridge.

Bridge quickly glanced at the silver device and decided that it had to be now or never. He hit the largest button on the remote just as Treelatix grabbed him by both arms.

-------------------------------

The remaining rangers rounded a corner of a downtown building. Syd held a scanner, checking it frequently.

Jack carried a small box that he had taken out of Kat's lab. He had come up with the idea that the Troobian who had taken Bridge might want more of the same material he had been collecting. Granted, all they had was a few particles of the stuff, but he hoped that the Troobian would be able to pick up on the energy it was putting out now.

At first, he wasn't sure if the trace amounts of energy would be picked up on. But Boom had walked in when he was trying to make off with the box, and Boom wouldn't let him go until Jack had told him everything.

After Jack finally gave in, Boom surprised him. He had been just as worried about Bridge as anyone, but he was able to do less about it than any of the rangers could. He had taken the containment box and had rigged it so that it reflected the energy of the particles within, making it seem like its contents was stronger.

A small beep sounded from the scanner Syd was holding. "Guys, I think I've got something." The other rangers gathered around her. "Down there." She pointed at a nearby alley.

They hurried off in that direction.

-------------------------------

Bridge blinked as he suddenly found himself standing in what appeared to be an alleyway flanked by boxes and junk containers. There were no signs of the interior of Gruumm's ship.

"Cool!" he said.

"Arr!" Treelatix growled at him.

Bridge then realized that the Troobian still had a hold of him. "Not cool."

The troobian let go of Bridge's left arm in order to take a swing at his head. Bridge ducked just in time and in return kicked the Troobian in the leg.

Treelatix growled again, but it didn't appear that Bridge's kick had done any damage. "You'll pay, Ranger!"

With the arm that still had a hold on Bridge, Treelatix sent the Green Ranger flying into the side of a wall.

"Agh!" Bridge groaned as he hit the wall with the flat of his back, the wind knocked out of him. He stood there, leaning against the wall, trying to catch his breath as his vision began to waver. Not now, he thought, I'm so close.

"Hey you!" He heard a shout from somewhere "Yeah you, big and ugly!" He couldn't see where it had come from as he had landed right next to a garbage container.

Treelatix turned in the direction of the shout to see the other four Rangers. Jack stepped forward. "Looking for something?"

Treelatix laughed. "I'd rather think that it was you who was looking for something, yes?"

Sky scowled at the Troobian. "You'll be paying for what you've done, trust me."

Bridge heard what he thought was the voices of his fellow team members, but he was having a hard time focusing on anything as he was becoming increasingly tired. He slowly slid down the wall behind him, trying to make his head stop spinning.

"Ready?" Jack asked.

"Ready!" the other three Rangers replied.

"S.P.D. Emergency!" they shouted.

"Come and get me, Rangers!" Treelatix shouted.

The Rangers and Treelatix all charged forward at the same time, closing the distance between them.

Sky came flying in and landed a kick on the troobian's chest.

Syd and Z followed him, each landing a hit on the troobian with their strikers.

Jack jumped up and landed a kick to the troobian's head.

Each hit sent Treelatix a little bit further back. He staggered a bit, but then straightened back up. "You'll not defeat me!" He shouted.

He charged the Rangers, landing a hit on both Z and Syd, sparks flying off of their suits; then knocked Sky back with a punch. He closed in on Jack. Jack dodged the swing and grabbed the Troobian's arms as he came back up. "You're under arrest!"

"Wrong!" Treelatix shouted and kicked Jack's legs out from under him. He could sense the other three rangers coming up behind him fast. He chuckled to himself. He pulled out his pistol and fired at them, sending out a wide spread of energy that caught all three of them, sending them crashing to the ground. He laughed manically and turned back to Jack, who was now pinned beneath the Troobian. "You're done for!" he shouted.

"I don't think so!" he heard a voice yell out.

"What?" Treelatix looked up just in time to see the Green Ranger coming at him as Bridge landed a kick to the troobian's head. He landed just on the other side of the troobian and quickly wheeled around in a fighting stance as Treelatix lost his hold on Jack, who slid free.

Z, Syd and Sky looked up from where they had landed to see Bridge facing the troobian.

"Bridge!" Z cried out.

Treelatix quickly recovered from Bridge's kick and glanced around at the rangers. He began to laugh as an idea occurred to him.

"It's all over for you!" he yelled. He turned at pointed his pistol at Bridge, the only one who wasn't morphed.

Z had gotten a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach as soon as she had seen Bridge standing off to the side of the Troobian. She had begun to run straight for him even before she heard the Troobian's chilling laughter. She launched herself off of the ground within the last few remaining feet and caught Bridge as she sailed through the air, rolling him out of the way just as the energy burst sliced through the air where he had been standing just seconds before.

"What?! No!" Treelatix yelled out. The remaining rangers began to advance on him and he quickly glanced around, spying something lying on the ground nearby.

"This isn't over, Rangers!" He yelled as he grabbed the transporter and activated it.

The troobian vanished in a puff of smoke.

Syd, Jack and Sky all powered down and rushed over to where Z was helping Bridge back up to his feet.

"Bridge!" Sky said, hugging him enthusiastically.

"Good to have you back, man!" Jack pounded on Bridge's shoulder. The slight wince he made didn't escape Z's notice.

"We're glad you're okay!" Syd said as he hugged him too.

"Thanks, guys." Bridge said, looking around at his friends.

"I'll bet you have one heck of a story about how you got out of there!" Sky said.

"You have no idea." Bridge replied flatly.

Z was a bit puzzled by his tone. "Are you okay? Really, I mean?"

Bridge looked up at her and tried to keep a hold of himself, but failed.

"Actually," his voice cracked oddly "I think I'd like to pass out now."

Sky had to move quickly in order to catch Bridge as he collapsed.

-------------------------------

The four rangers waited anxiously inside the infirmary. Jack, Syd and Z sat on the row of chairs in the waiting room. Syd was quietly pretending to look at a magazine, Jack had his legs crossed, stretched out before him and Z just stared at the floor while Sky paced back and forth across the length of the room.

Z looked up at him. "Would you cut that out?"

Sky stopped and looked down at her. He let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. "Sorry." He said simply.

The doors to the waiting room opened and Dr. Felix walked in.

Z, Jack and Syd quickly stood up and all four of them looked at the doctor.

"It will take some time for him to recover completely, but I believe he'll be alright." The rangers all sighed in relief.

"He'll be off duty for the next several days." The doctor continued.

"Thanks, doc." Jack said.

"Can we see him?" Z asked.

"You can." Dr. Felix replied. "But he's been through a lot, so I gave him a sedative and he's sleeping right now. You can go in, but don't disturb him or take too long."

"We won't." Sky said.

The rangers walked into the adjoining room to see that Bridge was indeed fast asleep in the infirmary bed. Z thought that he looked a too pale and seemed to be in pain even as he slept. What did they do to you?, she thought.

They all stood around the bedside of their friend, no one saying anything at first.

"Well, I'm glad that's over." Syd said.

Sky nodded and looked at Bridge, his face showing that he was still concerned for his friend.

"I don't think it's over, Syd." Jack said quietly.

"What do you mean? We got Bridge back. Or rather, he got himself out. End of story." she replied.

Jack shook his head. "No, it's not. Yeah, Bridge is back. And that's the most important thing. But that Troobian got away again. And we still don't know what that stuff is or what Gruumm is planning to do with it. We're going to have a long battle on our hands, I think."

Sky nodded. "I think you're right. I think we need to keep alert for anything Gruumm might throw at us."

Jack turned and looked at Z. "What about you? You haven't said anything yet."

"I think you're all right. We have to be prepared. But we have to take care of Bridge first." Z looked back down at the figure lying in the bed.

Jack caught an interesting expression on Z's face. "Of course, and with that in mind, I think our time is about up?" He gestured towards the door with his hand.

Sky and Syd walked out followed by Jack. He stopped in the doorway and turned back around when he realized that Z wasn't behind him.

"Z?" he called.

"Go on, Jack. I'm going to stay for just a few minutes more." She replied.

Jack wasn't sure if he liked the direction this was going, but gave in anyway. "Sure. Just not too long. Remember what the doc said."

"Yeah, thanks Jack." Z watched Jack leave and the door slid closed.

She gingerly sat down on the edge of the bed so as not to disturb Bridge. She reached out and took his hand in both of hers. She sat there quietly for a few minutes, unsure what to do next, but just glad that Bridge was back.

After a while, she sighed. "I don't know what's going on with me, Bridge." She spoke quietly. "After you'd been captured, I was really worried about you. Probably more than I should have been. For a while there, I thought I'd lost you forever. If that had happened, I don't know what I would've done. I ...don't think I can live without you."

She leaned in closer to him. "I love you, Bridge Carson." she whispered. Z gently placed a kiss on Bridge's left temple.

She let go of his hand and got up off the bed, heading for the door. She heard something faintly come from behind her.

"I love you too, Z."

**_To be continued _**

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, no copyright infringement is intended.


	3. Chapter 3: Contemplations and Denials

Z stormed through the corridors of the S.P.D. Headquarters. Inside, she was fuming. This is so damn frustrating, she thought. After Bridge had returned from his captivity on Gruumm's ship, nothing was going like she thought it would. Bridge had spent a full day in the infirmary recovering before the doctor released him. He had been on several more days of leave, and finally returned to duty. He seemed like the same usual guy as he'd always been, but Z could sense that something was wrong. She wasn't sure if the others had noticed it or not, but since none of them were willing to talk about what had happened, she wouldn't be able to find out.

Bridge had to debrief Commander Cruger, but that conversation had taken place in the privacy of the commander's office. When Z went back and checked the records, she had found the file to be sealed. Bridge had been on Gruumm's ship, he had to have seen things that could provide them with useful information to defeat the troobian empire, but for some reason Cruger had decided to keep that information from them.

When Sky had first found about it, he had been just as mad as Z is now. After several attempts to get him to talk had failed, Sky had confronted Bridge over it, demanding him to tell them what he knew about Gruumm and his plans. All Bridge would say is that he only had a vague idea of the layout of a small part of his ship and that he was under orders from the commander not to reveal anything else. Sky had called his friend a coward, which had resulted in Bridge decking the blue ranger. Z remembered that day well. She had seen something within Bridge flicker in response when Sky had called him that. Everyone else thought that it was just Bridge angered; after all Sky had no right to call him that, they all agreed. But Z felt that it was something else. Something worse.

She had tried to talk to Bridge about it afterwards, but he blew her off, saying he had other duties to attend to. He'd been doing that a lot lately. Avoiding the other rangers unless he was specifically called up on a mission. The others figured that it was just Bridge trying to get adjusted after all he'd been through, but Z didn't think that was the case. They all surmised that Bridge had probably been tortured, but no-one seemed willing to call it that as such.

They were just as aggravating to her as Bridge was. She had tried once, foolishly, to ask Cruger about it. He only stated that it was Carson's personal business and he had no right to disclose it. Then he had dismissed her.

That had been several days ago. Bridge still avoided them all whenever possible; Sky, Syd and Jack refused to even discuss him and still no one had any clues what Gruumm was up to.

Kat had still not been able to determine what the translucent particles were. In desperation, she had sent the sample off to Galaxy Command, hoping that they would be able to better analyze it.

Everything was on edge, just as it had been when Bridge was missing. Nothing had changed despite the fact that he had returned.

Z finally reached her room and stalked in; Syd stood in front of her floor length mirror, arranging her hair.

Z flopped down on her bed, pulling her shoes off and flinging them onto the floor.

Syd turned slightly to look at her roommate. "What's eating you?"

"Guess." Z growled in response.

"Oh yes, of course. Mr. Bridge and his so called avoidance issues. You really need to let it go." Syd turned back to her mirror.

Z stood up from her bed. "Let it go!" she thundered. "What are you blind? Why is it that the rest of you can't see that something is wrong?"

Syd slowly turned away from her mirror, to fully face Z, placing her right hand on her hip. She gave Z a condescending look. "You know that Dr. Felix said it might take some time for Bridge to re-adjust. He just needs some time to himself, that's all. Why can't you respect that?"

"Because I can't stand idly by watching a friend suffer, Syd!" Z replied.

"He's not suffering. He's back here safe and sound at S.P.D. He just needs a little time to get over his ordeal."

"Torture." Z said flatly.

"Excuse me?" Syd asked.

Z took a couple of steps towards her and stuck her finger out for emphasis. "Why can't you and the others just come out and say it. We all know that Gruumm had Bridge tortured. That should be obvious by now. It's not something he's going to be getting over in a few days, Syd."

Syd just looked at her friend. Secretly, she knew it too, but it seemed like Bridge would rather just forget about it all, so she wasn't going to press him on it. She just wished that Z would back off so that Bridge could get back to being himself again.

Syd stepped forward right in front of her roommate. "You know, if you want to talk about torture, you should take a look at what you're doing yourself. Bridge just wants to forget about it and move on; but no, you practically chase him around the headquarters, just itching to make him re-live it all..." Syd's voice had been getting louder as she argued with Z, so neither of them noticed the door when it chimed, or when it opened.

"That's enough!" Jack yelled at the top of his lungs. Z and Syd both turned to see Jack standing in their doorway; Sky behind him.

Syd gave him an aggravated look. "You're supposed to knock."

"I did." he replied. "But you two were so busy arguing that you couldn't hear it. Sky and I could hear you out in the rec room."

Z lowered her hand, which she realized that she still had up, pointing her finger at Syd.

"Sorry." Z said.

"Now, you want to tell me what this is all about?" Jack asked.

"Don't bother." Sky said from behind him. "You know as well as I do." He gave both girls a withering glance.

"Hey, don't look at me, she started it." Syd said.

"What?! You little..." Z started to advance on Syd when Jack stepped between them, stopping Z by putting his hands on her shoulders.

"I said enough!" Jack spoke.

Z stepped back from him, glaring at both him and Syd.

"That's okay, Jack. I was just leaving anyway." She turned on her heel and walked out of the doorway, passing Sky as she went.

Sky looked at Z and Jack and shook his head, not saying a word. He trailed after Syd, the door sliding shut behind him.

Jack let out a breath he'd been holding in and looked at Z who had once again flopped down onto her bed.

"Z..." Jack began.

Z buried her head in her hands, "I know, Jack, I know." She looked back up at him. "I shouldn't have been fighting with Syd. But she started it."

"That's rather funny; I seem to recall Syd saying the exact same thing." He replied.

Z sighed and shook her head at him. "Jack..."

"No wait, hang on a second." Jack interrupted her. He took a deep breath before continuing. "I know you're still worried about Bridge. Honestly, I think we all are, that's part of why we're all so edgy right now. But I don't think us arguing over it is going to help anything."

Z nodded. "I know. It's just so hard, especially since he won't talk about it."

"I'm sure he will when he's ready, Z. You just can't push him into it." Jack responded.

"But what if he's never ready, Jack?" she asked.

Jack gave her a puzzled look. "What do you mean by that?"

"We can't even begin to guess at what he went through up there. It may take years for him to get over it. He may never get over it all." Z replied.

Jack sighed. "Then I don't know, Z. I just don't know."

----------------------

Bridge was in the exercise room, doing his best to single-handedly take out the punching bag. He was only half-way paying attention to what he was doing; his thoughts were elsewhere.

It seemed that everyone looked at him differently. Like they were expecting him to break down at any minute because of what he'd gone through. Despite the fact that he hadn't breathed a word about it to anyone except for Cruger. He really hadn't wanted to do that either, but regulations required that he debrief his commander. He had just stated it as a matter of fact, not showing any emotion about it. Or at least he hoped he didn't. He thought he had succeeded, as Cruger didn't ask him to elaborate. Which was a very good thing; otherwise Bridge probably would have broken down then and there. As it was, he fought off thinking about it everyday.

At first the other rangers, tried to get him to talk about it, but after several attempts they gave up, especially after the incident with Sky. Even now, Bridge couldn't believe the nerve of the Blue Ranger, calling him a coward like that.

"I'd like to see what he would've done if it was him." Bridge muttered under his breath as he continued to pummel the punching bag.

So they all left him alone now. Except for Z. Who seemed intent on trying to ambush him about it. Literally. She had popped out at him a couple of times, and he was so on edge that he caught himself ready to take a swing on her. He didn't think she'd noticed, but he didn't know for certain.

"Stupid. Can't she just leave me alone?" he said to himself.

No, she can't. Because she's in love with you, you moron; came the unbidden thought. Despite the heavy sedation he'd been under when he was first brought back to S.P.D., Bridge had heard Z's words, and he had responded to them.

He couldn't believe that he'd said that he loved her back. He could only hope that his drugged mind had made that part up. I'm not ready for love right now, he told himself. I don't need it, he thought furiously.

Bullshit, another part of him spoke up. You need it now more than ever to get over your fears.

"I'm not afraid!" he yelled.

He suddenly stopped what he was doing, leaning down a bit and placing his hands on his knees, taking a couple of deep breaths. After he'd regained a hold on himself, he looked back up at the punching bag before him. That's when he noticed a couple of dark, sticky spots on its surface. He looked back down at his hands to see that the skin on the knuckles had torn open and were bleeding.

"Great, just great. Like I need to explain this to the doc, now." he said at his own stupidity.

He gathered up the rest of his gear and headed towards the showers, hoping that the cleaning crew wouldn't report the substance he'd left on the punching bag.

----------------------

_Bridge felt something cool pressing against his right temple. He just lay there letting the coolness take the edge off of the pounding headache he had. He slowly tried to move himself and instantly regretted it as waves of pain passed through him. Instead he just went limp and laid there on there on floor. He opened his eyes to have the light from the room drive further spears into his head. He quickly squinted his eyes shut, and waited until something lessened. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, his aches began to fade and his headache to dull. He re-opened his eyes, slowly this time. He began to move his arms and legs and push himself partially up from the floor. He looked ahead and crawled on his hands and knees until he reached the wall. He didn't really feel like standing up just yet, figuring it would only end with him back on the floor anyway. He turned himself around so that he was now sitting on the floor, leaning up against the wall. He felt tired and worn and he had become quite thirsty. He licked his dry lips and titled his head back on the wall, eyes closed. There was nothing he could do but wait. Although, right now, he wasn't able to do much of anything, even if he wanted to. He sat there, thinking of S.P.D. and his friends and how much he missed them all. His last thought settled on Z Delgado. _

Bridge jerked awake from his dream. He was on his bed in the room he shared with Sky. He quickly glanced to the other side of the room, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Sky wasn't there. He laid back and closed his eyes, trying to push the memories out of his mind.

After he'd had his regular check-in with the doctor, he decided to go rest for a bit. Actually, Dr. Felix had ordered him to. When Bridge had shown up at his appointment, the doctor had seen how tired and ragged-looking he was. He also noticed the mess Bridge had made of his knuckles, despite his best effort to cover them up. That's when the doctor ordered him to his bed and had even given him a couple of sleeping pills.

Bridge didn't take those, however. In fact, he hadn't taken any of the previous ones either. He didn't really want to sleep; it only brought on nightmares of Gruumm's ship. Like now.

He opened his eyes and sat up on his bed, unsure of what to do next. Bridge, you have to get a hold of yourself, he thought. He heard the hiss of the door opening and quickly looked up to see Sky enter.

Sky just gave him a glance and waved briefly at him.

"Hey." Bridge said.

"Hey. What are you doing?" Sky asked.

"Resting." He got up from the bed. "Doctor's orders." He grinned.

Sky grinned back. "You'd go for a chance to 'rest' anytime Bridge. You like your bed too much." Sky smiled.

"Yah, I suppose." Bridge replied. Though I don't like it as much as I used to, he added to himself.

Sky caught something odd in Bridge's expression, but wasn't sure if he should press him about it. Despite Z's overzealous attitude, she was right that Bridge still wasn't completely himself. He seemed to be on edge and it was becoming hard for the other rangers to determine his real mood at times. Like when Sky had called him a coward. Really, he hadn't meant it, he was only hoping that it would trigger Bridge to open up and talk to them, but instead it had resulted in Sky landing on his rear on the floor of the rec room with a sore jaw.

Sky turned to fully face his friend. "Look, about that incident earlier, I really didn't mean it. I'm sorry."

"I know." Bridge replied. "Forget about it. No big deal." He smiled at Sky, trying to seem nonchalant.

"Okay, then." Sky said. No big deal, huh? Bull, he thought to himself. Sky had never been particularly good at getting people to open up to him, unless it was in an interrogation room. Probably why his attempt with Bridge had failed miserably. Never try interrogation tactics on your friends, he decided. It just doesn't work.

Bridge had picked up his jacket and slipped it on, headed for the door.

"Where you going?" Sky asked.

"Oh, um..." Bridge tried to think quickly as he really didn't have any where to go. "Down to see Boom. There's a couple of things he wanted me to give him a hand with."

Sky just nodded. "Alright, see you around then."

"Sure. Later." Bridge said as he left.

Sky doubted that Boom had any such thing he needed Bridge for.

----------------------

Treelatix passed through a doorway, entering one of the storage rooms. He knew that Emperor Gruumm had big plans for the things he'd amassed, but Treelatix did not as of yet know what that plan was. Even so, the troobian warrior had some plans of his own. He'd made sure that he got more of the stuff than what Gruumm had required and it was about time that he picked up his share.

He placed a small device on top of one of the crates, then activated his remote transporter. The crate disappeared. Treelatix smiled. Much in the same way that no one had noticed an extra crate during the initial shipment, so no one was going to note that one was now missing. Nor would they think that Treelatix would have it stashed aboard his own ship.

His vessel was nowhere near as large as Gruumm's, in fact it was currently stashed in the largest of the shuttle bays, taking up the entire space. Most other troobians relied completely on transporters or traveled on vessels belonging to another; Treelatix preferred to get around on his own when he could. He found that he could get so much more accomplished that way. As long as any of his extra activities didn't get in the Emperor's way, Gruumm didn't care what else Treelatix did.

He was a proud and ferocious warrior, and was always out to further increase the power of the Troobian Empire. But he was also wanting to become more than just another warrior. Treelatix wanted some power of his own. His latest plan would undoubtedly prove to Gruumm just how valuable an asset to the empire Treelatix really was.

----------------------

"Damn!" Kat slapped her hand down on the top of her desk.

"What is it?" Boom asked, walking over to her desk.

"I just received word from Galaxy Command on the particle sample I sent them." She said.

"What did they say it is?" Boom asked excitedly.

"They don't know." Kat said sullenly.

Boom looked surprised. "But they're the best. All the top minds are there. Well, except for you of course. How can they not know what it is?"

Kat shook her head. "I have no idea. I thought for sure that with so many scientific minds up there and their advanced equipment, they would have at least come up with something. They can't even tell if it's organic or created."

"That can't be good." Boom said.

"No, I don't think so." Kat replied. "I'd better report this to Doggie." She got up from her desk and left her lab.

As she walked down the corridor, she tried to make some sense of the strange substance. Since there was very little of it to begin with, she had sent the entire sample to Galaxy Command. Now she wished she had kept just a piece of it. Sky and Syd said that they had gone over almost every inch of the warehouse floor in that area and they had not found any more.

She sighed as she continued walking, deep in thought and didn't notice Z until she almost walked into her.

"Z. I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. Guess I wasn't paying much attention."

Z shrugged. "No biggie, I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going either." She lowered her head and sighed.

"Is everything alright, Z? You look like something's bothering you." Kat stated.

"I don't know anymore. I keep telling myself that something's just not right, but none of the others seem to believe me." she said.

Kat smiled slightly. "Are you becoming psychic too?"

"I wish." Z said flatly.

Kat gave her a curious look. "What do you mean?"

Z waved a hand through the air, blowing off Kat's question. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." She started walking down the corridor. "See you later."

Kat turned and watched the yellow ranger continue on her way, perplexed. What was that all about?, she wondered.

----------------------

Jack waited in his room for his guests to arrive. After a few more moments, he heard the door chime.

"Enter." he said.

The door slid open and the Blue and Pink Rangers stepped in. Sky stepped forward. "What is it that you wanted to talk to us about?" he asked.

Jack smiled. Sky always was direct and to the point, Jack rather liked that about him; although it had gotten him into hot water a few times.

"Sit." Jack pointed at both his bed and chair. Sky took the chair, Syd the end of his bed, while Jack sat at the head of it.

"I think we have a problem." He started.

"What kind of problem?" Syd asked. "S.P.D. official business problem or something a little more personal?"

Syd sounded a little hostile to Jack, which rather surprised him. "What are you talking about Syd?"

"Earlier today, in my room. The fight with Z. Look Jack, I know you two have known each other for like, forever, but she really did start it."

Jack laughed, which surprised Syd. "I know she did. Z can be a little hard-headed at times."

"She's not the only one around here." Sky added.

"Look, that's what I wanted to talk to you guys about. We all know that something still isn't quite right with Bridge. Z knows it too, but she's being a bit more vocal about it." Jack stated.

"Vocal?" Sky arched his eyebrows. "She's practically stalking him all over the campus. I can't see how that's going to help him."

"I know." Jack said. "But I also think Z's right too, we just can't sit back any longer and hope he gets it together on his own." He paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "The fact is he might not be able to."

This time it was both Sky and Syd that looked at him puzzled.

"What?" Sky asked.

"Huh?" was all Syd said.

"Look, I agree that Z's going about it completely the wrong way, but she and I both have seen some rough stuff growing up out on the streets. Sometimes people had a hard time getting on with their lives after a bad experience and they weren't able to move past it on their own. Those that couldn't..." Jack paused again. "Let's just say that the final outcome didn't turn out very well."

Syd looked stunned; Sky shook his head in disbelief, leaning forward in his chair as he did so. "No. There's no way that Bridge would do anything so ... drastic."

"I'd like to think so, too Sky, but I'd really rather to not have to find out." Jack looked at the other two rangers. "There's also the small problem that while this is going on, it's interfering with us as a team. How are we supposed to be able to fight evil side by side, if we're all on edge, one of us stalking another and the third doesn't want to be near us at all?"

Syd put her hands up in exasperation. "I don't know. But I think you're right. We can't let things go on like this. We have to do something. About both of them."

Sky nodded in agreement. "Right. But how are we going to do that?"

"That's what I haven't figured out yet. I need you guys' help." Jack said.

----------------------

Z was once again aimlessly roaming the halls of S.P.D. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. She'd almost run right into Kat Manx, she was so engrossed in her own thoughts. She had almost bumped into a few other people since then, too. I'd better go some place that's not so busy, she thought.

She turned a corner and saw the doorway that lead to the zord bay. She highly doubted that anyone would be in there right now.

She stepped through the door and glanced around. The bay was completely silent and she didn't see anyone. She looked over at runner number 4, and headed towards it. She thought about getting in, but decided that it wasn't really necessary. Instead, she hopped up and sat on the hood, closing her eyes and crossing her legs underneath her. She just sat there quietly, not thinking for several moments until she heard a slight noise off to her left.

She opened her eyes and looked in the direction of the noise to see that Bridge had just stepped from out of runner 3. He looked as pale as a ghost.

"Bridge? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Uh, um, nothing. Just checking on my zord." Z saw that his expression changed from one of surprise to suspicion. He narrowed his eyes at her. "Did you follow me here?"

Z rolled her eyes. "Ugh! No! I was actually trying to avoid other people and this seemed like the most likely place anyone would be."

Bridge continued to look at her suspiciously, not sure if she was telling the truth or not. He concentrated for a moment, trying to pick up anything from her, but got nothing.

Z just sat there for a few more moments, not saying anything. Finally, she got tired of it. "Oh, for Pete's sake!" She moved quickly and hopped down from the top of the zord.

Her actions caught Bridge off-guard and he jerked himself back a few paces away from her.

This time it was Z who narrowed her eyes. "Knock it off!" she snarled.

"What?!" Bridge retorted.

"That! Anytime someone comes near you, you jump like you're about to get beaten!" she blurted out, then instantly regretted what she said.

"Only if it's you!" Bridge shot back. "You're the only who's chasing me across all of headquarters! Why can't you just leave me alone!" Bridge started to step around Z, but she moved to cut him off.

"No. You're not going to keep running! You have to stop this, Bridge." Z said.

"Running from what?" he growled.

"You tell me." Z said.

Bridge stopped short and couldn't think of anything to say. He dropped his gaze and just stood there staring at the floor.

He didn't notice that Z had closed the gap between them until she gently placed a hand on his arm.

Reflexively, Bridge started to jerk his arm back, but Z wouldn't let go. "Bridge..." she spoke quietly. "I'm you're friend, we all are. We only want to help you. Let us, please!"

Bridge shook his head and looked back down at the floor. Z could feel him beginning to tremble. She took a deep breath. "Bridge..."

"No..." he said softly. "I...I can't Z. I don't..." he stopped mid-sentence and his shaking increased.

Z stepped closer to him and took a hold of his other arm. "Yes, you can. I'll help you, Bridge. You just have to let me."

Z looked down to see that there were a few tiny wet spots on the floor between them. Bridge shook his head vehemently and drew in a few shuddering breaths. Z thought that he was going to bolt, but instead she was surprised as he slowly sank to the floor, burying his head in his hands, shoulders shaking.

Z knelt down next to him and wrapped her arms around him, gently rocking him. "Oh, Bridge." She couldn't help herself; she cried along with him.

She didn't say anything the entire time Bridge cried himself out, just held onto him, supporting him. Finally, she could feel him stop shaking and heard a few sniffles.

She slowly let him go, but still kept a supporting hand on his arm. "Feel better?" she asked.

Bridge looked up at her and nodded, there were tracks from where the tears had run down his cheeks, eyes red and puffy. She smiled at him. "Sorry, I don't have a hankie."

Bridge smiled back slightly. "I don't even want to know." he croaked.

Z changed out of her kneeling position and sat down on the floor next to Bridge. "I don't think anyone will notice if we wait here for a few minutes." she said.

"I hope so, otherwise what will people think of a ranger who cries?" he tried to poke fun at himself, but it didn't really work. His smile faded.

Z nudged him with her elbow. "None of that. Nobody will know. Besides, on the off chance that they did, they'd just think that you were sad because you'd finally had enough of me trailing you around that you strangled me!" she laughed.

Bridge looked at her. "I'm sorry."

Z seemed confused. "For what?"

"I could have. Those couple of times you jumped out at me, I had to stop myself from taking a swing at you. I didn't even have a chance to think about it, it just happened, like someone else was in control of my body." Bridge swallowed and turned back away from her. "You must hate me."

"Bridge, no." she scooted herself closer to him, so that their arms were touching. "You said it yourself, you weren't in control. Fear was." She paused, hoping he would look at her. When he didn't she continued on. "I don't hate you, Bridge. I never could."

Bridge glanced back at her, she could see that his eyes were misty again. "I don't know what to do, Z. I feel like I can't trust myself anymore. That's why I've been avoiding everyone. I don't want to see anybody wind up getting hurt. Especially after what happened with Sky. I know he didn't mean it when he called me a coward, he was trying to get me to talk, but instead I hauled off and punched my best friend."

Z sighed. "I'm not saying that punching him was a good idea, but he was out of line, Bridge. He had no right to call you that, no matter what his intentions were. I'm sure Sky's apologized to you by now, right?"

Bridge just nodded.

"See, it's not as bad as you think. Besides..." she gave him a conspiratorial grin. "I rather liked seeing the Blue Ranger getting his butt knocked on the ground."

Bridge chuckled. "I'll bet it's one of the first times someone's punched him where there wasn't criminals involved."

"I'll bet." Z said simply. She looked back around at the zord bay. "Well, I guess we'd better head out of here. No telling when a cleanup or maintenance crew will come by."

"Oh, yeah." Bridge got to his feet, and wiped his face with the back of his hands. As one of the knuckles of his right hand brushed his cheekbone, he hissed slightly in pain.

"What? What it is?" Z asked.

"Just me being stupid again." He held out his hand so that she could see the bandages that peeked out from the small holes in the top of his glove. One of them was slightly pink.

Z looked back up at Bridge, still holding his hand. "What did you do to yourself?"

"I guess hitting Sky wasn't enough for me. I had to go a few rounds with the punching bag, too." He winced slightly as Z touched the knuckle that was bleeding.

"Here." She pulled him over by the yellow and white zord. "Sit. I'll see if I have anything in here." She stuck her head inside and began digging around for a med kit.

"Z, that's not necessary. I can probably just get another bandage from the doc." He said.

"Then you'll have to explain how you tore it open again." She pulled back out of the vehicle, holding a small box. "Do you really want to do that?"

"No, not really." he smirked at her.

"Then you're going to let me play doctor for a bit instead." She said, as she placed the box on the zord next to Bridge; opened it and began to take out a bandage. "Take your glove off."

Bridge undid the velcro clasp and gingerly pulled off the glove, not wanting to cause his skin any further damage. When he was finally done, he saw Z standing right next to him, bandage in hand.

"Let's get rid of this old stuff first, shall we?" She stuck the clean bandage out at Bridge, who grasped it in his left hand. Z began to slowly unravel the bandage, making sure that it wasn't sticking to the skin as she did so. As she worked, she began to hum slightly.

Bridge chuckled, then closed his eyes as he listened to her. He got a sudden jolt as a feeling washed over him. At first he couldn't describe it. As he sat there, he felt a joy and contentment that he'd never experienced before. It was pleasant and bubbly and it seemed to chase any lingering fears that he had away before it. He continued to sit there, eyes closed, enjoying it, when he heard Z's humming stop. The feeling slowly receded.

"Bridge?" Z was confused. One minute, Bridge had been a puddle of goo on the floor, the next; he looked as if he'd seen the joys of the heavens themselves.

Bridge slowly opened his eyes and looked at her; his eyes were bright, but Z was sure that it was for a completely different reason this time. "Hmm?"

Z cocked her head slightly at him. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're sitting there like the cat that caught the proverbial canary. Like you're so happy all of a sudden. What brought that on? Not that it's a bad thing, it looks good on you." She grinned at him.

Bridge shrugged. "Don't know. Just started to...feel happy all of a sudden." He smiled back at her.

Z gently patted the top of his hand. "Well, it's all done now. Doctor Z thinks you'll live. You can put your glove back on."

Z and Bridge quickly looked at each other as they both realized what had just happened. "Oh, Bridge, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I hope you didn't pick up too much."

"No, it's okay, really. I didn't mind. Actually, it was rather nice." Bridge spoke before he could stop himself.

Z just stood there in front of Bridge, looking at him, unsure of what to do next.

"Um...maybe we should head back?" Bridge spoke quietly.

Z had to shake herself. "Yeah, of course. We wouldn't want a search party to come looking for us." She let go of his hand and packed up the rest of the med kit and put it back in her zord.

As soon as she let go, the last remnants of the feeling faded away. Bridge sighed and slipped his glove back on, then hopped down from the edge of the hood.

"Ready if you are." She popped back out of the zord.

Bridge nodded. They headed towards the door, walking side by side.

Z had come close to admitting her feelings for him. Now; she wondered if she'd ever be able to do so.

Next to her, Bridge thought of the wonderful feeling he'd just experienced. He wondered if he would ever feel that way again.

_**To be continued**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, no copyright infringement is intended.


	4. Chapter 4: Suspicions

**Suspicions**

Prologue:

It is near the end of the year 2025. Omni has been defeated and Gruumm is secure within a containment card, in a maximum security holding. Jack has left S.P.D. to join Ally and Piggy in their new business, setting up missions across Newtech City. Sky has been promoted to Red Ranger, Bridge to Blue. Though they are missing a green ranger, the team is strong and is continuing to bring in the last remnants of Gruumm's acquaintances.

In orbit around the moon, a small ship goes undetected. Aboard is Treelatix, one of the few remaining free troobians that came in conquest of earth. He fumes at what has become of his great empire, and his emperor. "You shall pay, S.P.D, for what you have done."

------------------------

Bridge stood in his room, adjusting his new blue and gray uniform. It still felt brand new and starchy; he guessed it would take him a bit to get used to seeing his reflection in something other than green. He no longer had a roommate, Sky's promotion to red ranger got him the perk of a separate room. Bridge didn't mind not having a roommate, it meant that he would have to worry less about picking up stray thoughts or feelings. Not that he'd been feeling very much of anything lately. He stared hard at his reflection; "What's wrong with you?" he asked it quietly. He didn't know what was wrong with his powers; after he'd come back from Gruumm's ship they seemed to be raging out of control, randomly picking up anything and everything at intense levels, a few times it was so severe that he nearly blacked out. Gradually it had faded, returning to his control. Or so he had thought.

He hadn't noticed it at first really, didn't become apparent until he'd gone out on a mission with the others to bring in a Troobian. Sky had asked him to scan the area for the criminal, and when he did so he got nothing. Not nothing as in the Troobian wasn't in the area, but nothing as in Bridge couldn't seem to get anything from his psychic senses. He was both shocked and surprised. He had noticed a trace of footprint on the ground not too far from where he had knelt down and was able to use that to point his teammates onto the Troobian's trail.

That was a week ago and he still couldn't sense things. He had tried. He would randomly try to pick up on the thoughts of others that were nearby or scan for auras when people weren't looking. Nothing. Bridge took in a deep breath and sighed. "What the hell am I going to tell the others?" He hung his head, closing his eyes in thought. When they had first started out as Rangers, the others thought that both he and his powers were a bit odd. He had learned over the months that he could do more than just read auras, as he had initially thought. Those abilities had become an invaluable asset to the B-Squad. And now they were apparently gone. Bridge knew that he wouldn't be able to keep it from them for long. He had gotten lucky on that mission, being able to cover it up as he had. "But what about next time?" he asked aloud. He looked back up at his reflection. "Well, at least you look good in blue." He told it.

He turned away from his mirror and stepped out of the room, seeking out his teammates.

------------------------

Z was lounging on a chair, reading a book in the rec room, when Bridge stepped in. She glanced up briefly at him, then turned her attention back to her pages. "Hey."

Bridge looked towards Z. "Hey yourself." He hopped up onto the back of one of the couches. "Where's everyone else?"

Z just shrugged. "Don't know. I think Sky and Syd were going to talk to Kat about something, I guess they'll be here when they're done."

"Oh." Bridge replied. He turned away from Z and looked out the window at the cityscape that lay outside.

Z peered over the edge of her book at Bridge, so as not to raise his suspicions. Yes, she had to admit, Bridge had gotten much better in the past month or so, but Z suspected that he harbored a lot of unresolved issues still. He was back to his usual kooky and chipper self, well, mostly, she added. Z had caught a few times where he seemed completely downtrodden. Like now. Bridge didn't realize that Z was staring at him and so had no reason to hide the emotions that now showed on his face. Z's heart nearly broke looking at him. She could see that something troubled him greatly, and she had to stop herself from getting up and going to him.

Instead she quickly averted her eyes back down and cleared her throat. Bridge snapped out of his reverie and turned back to Z. "What?" he asked in an innocent manner.

"Penny for your thoughts." Z recited the old cliché.

Bridge's mouth almost gaped open in surprise. Out of all the things she could have said, he wasn't expecting that. Especially sense he could no longer read thoughts. He stopped himself short. "Um, I was just thinking." He glanced down at himself and quickly back up at her. "Just how great I look in blue!" He spread his arms out wide in a triumphant pose.

Z threw her head back and laughed at him. "You're right. You sure do." She meant it as more than just a congratulation on his new rank, he really did look good in blue. Actually, Z thought, he looks good in anything.

Bridge noticed Z looking at him a little oddly and was about to say something, when the rec room door slid open and the Red and Pink Rangers entered. "Guys." Syd walked over next to the chair Z sat in. "I think we've got some good news."

Sky nodded. "Kat thinks she's found some more of that odd substance Treelatix was after. She wants us to go check it out and see if we can bring some back."

Bridge tilted his head at Sky. "Why are we going to look for that? Gruumm already did what he needed to with what he had taken, so what's the big deal? Shouldn't we be looking for other Troobians?"

Sky sighed at the Blue Ranger. "Bridge, whether or not Gruumm made use of it, isn't the issue. Kat says that it's still an unusual and very powerful substance and she wants to know where it came from." he shrugged slightly. "Who knows what else it could be used for?"

"Ah, right." Bridge replied. He hopped down from his perch. "When do we go?"

Syd looked down at Z, who remained seated with her book. "Whenever you two are ready."

"I get the hint." Z said as she folded her book closed and stood up. "Let's go."

------------------------

Sky walked through a series of alleyways, looking for his intended target. Kat had at last been able to determine the source of the mysterious translucent substance, even if she still didn't know what it was. As far as they knew, it was part of a clandestine operation by one of the larger corporations that operated in Newtech City. Which meant that whatever this company was up to, it was likely to be illegal. Cruger knew that going after the company directly would only result in the operation moving and going deeper into hiding. So he had sent Sky undercover to try to infiltrate the organization, which had led him to where he was now. He had spent the past few days gathering information from the locals and observing the operation from the outside. He decided it was finally time to get a closer look.

He wore a long dark trench over a pair of jeans and a faded blue shirt that Z had gotten for him; she had stated that all of his clothes would stand out in the shadier areas of Newtech City and that if he was to be successful in insinuating himself there, he'd better look the part. He slunk along the wall of the building opposite of his goal. There was a guard to the side of the door he planned to enter through. On the surface, this guard did not appear to be a guard. He sat crossed-legged on the ground just a few feet away from the door and wore slightly ragged clothing. Appearance-wise, he looked like any other homeless who had taken up residence in this neighborhood. But Sky had seen him send a couple of thugs on their way. They had thought that the hapless man they had seen living in the alley would make for easy prey. They were quite surprised when they had all received a good ass-kicking by the well-armed man. By watching him, Sky knew that he was a well-trained fighter. He also knew that the not-guard took a break from his post for a few minutes each day, usually about late afternoon.

Sky surmised that it was almost that time. As if on cue, the man got up from his position on the ground and started towards the head of the alleyway. He walked slowly, as if he was still a helpless nobody, but in reality he was carefully checking over every inch of the alley as he departed. Sky crouched down in the shadows behind a garbage container, peering around its edge, watching the man as he got ever closer to the end of the alley. The man stopped and looked down the alley behind him; seeing nothing he turned back and swung around the corner, leaving the alleyway.

Sky stood up slowly from his position, taking a moment to make sure that the guard was not coming right back and made a sprint across the alley to the side of the building. He reached the door and carefully turned the handle, not making any sound. When he had the door cracked open a bit, he peered inside, making sure there wasn't any additional guards around. He swung the door open the rest of the way and darted inside, quickly and quietly closing it behind him. He pulled out his morpher, set it to silent mode and began to scan the area. He saw the energy it was picking up, the strongest signal coming from off to his right. Sky headed in that direction, keeping alert for any others.

------------------------

Bridge sat at a table in the rec room, trying to eat some of his beloved toast. After attempting a third bite that just didn't seem appealing, he put his toast down and shoved the plate away. He sighed and rested his chin on his hands. Something nagged at him. He still hadn't regained the use of his powers, but he had an intense feeling that something wasn't right. The feeling had started when they had discovered the source of the translucent material, when Cruger had ordered Sky to go undercover after it. Bridge didn't know what it meant, but he knew that he didn't like it. He sighed again.

"Something wrong?" he heard a voice behind him.

He turned to see Z and Syd looking at him.

"Hi guys. What are you up to?" he asked them.

"We were just going to grab a bite to eat and thought we'd join you." Syd replied.

"But it looks like something's bugging you; you're not eating your toast." Z added.

"Yah. Guys, I think something's going to happen." he told them.

Syd came around the table and sat across from Bridge, Z took a seat next to him.

"It's not like the last time is it?" Z asked. She hoped he wasn't having anymore nightmares about his own demise.

"No, nothing like that. It's just a feeling. I can't really pinpoint anything about it, only that I think something bad is going to happen. But I don't know what." He put his chin back in hands.

Z and Syd exchanged a look. "Hmm. How long have you had this feeling? When did it start?" Syd asked.

"Right after we found out where that stuff comes from that Treelatix was after. No, wait, that's not right." He sat up straight. "It really started when Cruger told Sky to go after it." His eyes got a bit wide and he glanced nervously at both girls. "I think something's going to happen to Sky!"

Syd and Z looked worried. "We have to tell Cruger about this." Z said.

"And I think we'd better check up on Sky." Syd added. They all stood up and left the table, their meals forgotten.

------------------------

Sky had slowly been getting closer to his destination, always alert for the presence of anyone else in the building. So far he had encountered no one. Strange, he thought to himself, why have a guard at the door and nobody inside? This just gets weirder and weirder. He was in a small corridor, just about to turn a corner when he heard someone shout.

"You there! Stop!"

Sky didn't bother to look, he dashed around the corner, pulling out his pistol as he did so; he checked down the hall he had turned into, making sure it was clear before putting his back to the wall and peering from behind the corner, at where the shout had come from.

"Hold it right there, yourself! Who are you and what are you doing here?" he yelled back.

"That's none of your business! You're the one who's trespassing here. What gives you the right to ask me who I am? Who are you and why are you here? You better answer quick, or I'll fill you full of holes!"

Sky thought quickly; he still needed to determine what was really going on here, but he doubted that he'd get any cooperation if he revealed that he was S.P.D. He would have to fashion a cover for himself that wouldn't get him shot in the process. "I'll tell you what, if you're willing to come out, we can discuss this openly without having to blow each other to bits. I'll answer any questions you want."

Silence followed for a few moments; Sky was beginning to think that his unseen foe wasn't going to go for his offer, when he finally heard a response.

"Alright. We'll try it your way for now. But if you attempt anything, I'm going to shoot first and ask questions of your corpse later. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Sky replied.

Sky stepped out from behind the corner, holding up both hands, showing that he wasn't going to open fire.

He heard a few footfalls from ahead and a figure stepped out, aiming a pistol up in the air. Sky was rather surprised. His would-be opponent was a young woman. She stood about 6 inches shorter than him and had reddish-brown hair that went down to her shoulders. Her eyes were a light hazel color, and she wore a pair of snug fitting jeans, a cropped tee-shirt and sneakers. Sky could see she was well-toned and muscled; from the looks of her, she could probably put up a good fight. Sky thought she looked tough; he also fleetingly thought that she looked pretty, quite attractive, really.

She looked Sky up and down for a moment, as if trying to get his measure in a glance. "Who are you?" she asked gruffly.

"Nate." He spoke quickly, making a nickname of his father's name. "Who are you?"

"Mandy."

"Nice to meet you." Sky replied.

"Wish I could say the same about you. What the hell are you doing here?" she asked.

"Word on the street is that there's some major action going on here. Profitable action. I want in on it." Sky told her.

She snorted and laughed. "Likely story, that is. I'm sure you happen to hear about all kinds of 'profitable action' on the streets. Sorry to break it you buddy, but this is a closed party. No new members needed, especially ones that happen to wander in from the street. How did you get in here anyway?"

"I waited until the guard left, then snuck in through the door." Sky said.

Sky saw her shake her head. "That moron. I told him time and again not to leave his post for any reason. I don't care if he has to pee or not, he can piss on himself for all I care." Mandy studied Nate from underneath her lashes, trying to figure him out. Granted, Trask is an idiot, she thought; but the fact that this guy was smart enough to figure him for a guard in the first place and then watch him for any opportunity to get in, means that there may be more to him than meets the eye.

Mandy took a half step back, Sky brought up his guard, not aiming at her, but being prepared just in case.

"I think you can relax, I'm not going to shoot you. Not just yet, anyway." She holstered her pistol, Sky did the same.

"Truce then?" Sky spoke.

"For now. You know I'll want to ask you a lot of questions, right?" she said.

"I already told you I'd answer anything you want to ask. Want to start now?" he replied.

"Not here. Let's find somewhere else." She turned around and started back up the corridor Sky had first come down. She looked at him. "Coming? Don't make me shoot you after all."

Damn, he thought, so much for getting any closer to the stuff right this minute. "Of course, I'll let you lead the way." He gestured along the hall.

"I don't think so, you go first." she glared at him.

"Okay, whatever you say." He walked past her and continued up the corridor. What have I just gotten myself into?, he thought.

------------------------

"But, Commander..." Bridge started.

"I'm sorry, Carson, but I can't allow you all to contact Sky just yet. His mission is just too important." Cruger told the three rangers that were assembled in the command center.

Bridge sighed and hung his head. Z placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I know you're concerned, but I can't pull Sky out based purely on an assumption." Bridge glanced up at the Sirian, looking slightly hurt. "I'm not discounting your feelings, Bridge, I know you're capable of sensing things that the rest of us can't, but we have to know what this material is and its purpose. It's a potential threat to the safety of Earth and that has to come before everything else." He looked at each of the rangers in turn. "The next time Sky checks in, I'll tell him of your suspicions. I know Sky is fully capable of handling himself, otherwise I would have never sent him. That will be all for now. You're all dismissed." Cruger turned back to the control consoles, looking them over.

Bridge shook his head, disappointed.

"C'mon Bridge. It'll be okay." Syd said.

"Yeah, let's go back and finish that meal we started, what do you say?" Z spoke.

The three of them turned and left the command center. As soon as they had gotten clear of the door that slid closed behind them, Bridge stopped. He looked at both Z and Syd. "You guys go on ahead. I'm not very hungry." He turned and walked away from them.

"Now what?" Syd asked.

Z stared after Bridge, shaking her head. "I don't know, Syd."

------------------------

Bridge stepped around the corner and leaned back against the wall. He could hear Z and Syd talking faintly in the corridor. He heard their footsteps as they walked off. He just slumped against the wall. What now, indeed?, he thought. He knew to the pit of his soul that something was going to happen, but he felt powerless to do anything about it. Normally, he would be able to go out and track Sky using his powers, but he hadn't regained the use of his abilities yet. He also didn't want to inadvertently put Sky in any further danger by showing up on the scene. Dammit!, he thought, there's got to be something I can do! He stood leaning on the wall for a few more minutes, when an idea struck him.

He turned back down the corridor he'd left, headed towards the lower levels. He continued until he reached the door that led to Kat's lab. He stopped for a second to compose himself; after all he didn't want to see like a nervous scared kid. He took a step forward and the door slid open when it detected his presence. He stepped in and glanced quickly around.

"Bridge!" he heard from across the room. "What's up?" Boom asked him.

"Nothing, Boom. I just thought I'd come down and see what Kat had you working on lately. Is she around?" Bridge replied.

"No, she's off conferring with some other scientists about that stuff. Do you need to see her?" Boom spoke.

"No, I really came here to talk to you anyway." Bridge said. Besides, he thought, Kat would throw a fit if she figured out what I was up to.

"Great! I'm working on this power accelerator device that Kat developed. If it works right, it should give you all more power when you're morphed." Boom responded.

"That's great, Boom! I'm sure it will come in handy." Boom grinned hugely at the Blue Ranger.

"Yah, too bad I don't have an effective way to test it, really. I mean, I can't morph like you can." Boom continued.

"Yeah." Bridge said. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

Boom seemed vaguely surprised. It wasn't often when Bridge would ask him about something; it was usually the other way around. "Uh, sure. What is it?"

Bridge quickly stepped over to stand next to Boom. "You know that Cruger sent Sky undercover to find out about this stuff, right?" Boom shook his head affirmatively. "Good. Because if something were to go wrong in his investigation, we'd need to know so that we could back him up. Right?"

"I suppose so. That does kind of make sense." Boom was a bit confused by Bridge's line of questioning.

"Alright. Well, in order to do that we need a way to track him without having anyone else being able to pick up on it. He's got his morpher, of course, but it's possible that others could pick up any signal that comes from it. Or towards it. What we need is a way to track his morpher that doesn't put out any kind of apparent signal. How can we do that?"

"Hmm. I'll have to think on it a bit. I'm sure we could do it, especially if we got Kat to work on it..."

"No." Bridge cut him off. Boom looked at him in surprise. "Boom, I need to you keep this quiet. Just between you and me, okay? I'll help you, of course."

Boom was really confused now and somewhat concerned. Why would Bridge want to keep something like this from Kat and everyone else? Wouldn't they want to be able to track Sky just as Bridge had suggested? "Um, I suppose I could. But wouldn't it be better if everyone knew about it?"

Bridge sighed. "Boom..." he pleaded with his friend. "Cruger order that Syd, Z and I are not to contact Sky in any way. I understand that this is a critical mission, but I can't shake the feeling that this is going to turn bad for him. We have to make sure that doesn't happen." Bridge looked desperately to his friend. "Please?"

"Alright." Boom replied. "I don't like the idea of the kind of trouble I could get in over this, but if I can prevent anything from happening to Sky, I'll do it!"

"Thanks, Boom! And don't worry about getting into any trouble; if we're found out, I'll take the responsibility, I'll tell them I ordered you do it!" Bridge gave Boom a lop-sided grin.

Boom nodded. I sure hope you don't have to make good on that, he thought.

------------------------

Mandy directed Nate through a series of hallways, headed towards the one place in the entire building she knew was completely secure. She had taken steps to ensure that it was. "In there." She pointed at a door just off to their left.

Sky grabbed the door handle, discovering it was locked. He glanced back at Mandy. "It's..."

"Yah, I know. Move aside." Mandy said gruffly. She stepped in front of Nate and pulled out a key. She turned to the door so that Nate couldn't see exactly what she was doing. There was a special set of tiny buttons on the underside of the handle that she pressed in a specific sequence. The door unlocked.

She swung the door open and gestured for Nate to go inside. "Go on in."

Sky shrugged and stepped through the door. He had expected to find an office of some sort, but instead was surprised to discover that it appeared to be someone's private room. The space was small and most of it was taken up by a single bed that lined the far wall. There was also a narrow dresser, a small refrigerator, a low table and two old, non-matching chairs. Mandy stepped out from behind him. "Have a seat. Then we can talk." She walked over to the tiny fridge and pulled out a beer. "Want one?" she held one out to Sky; he shook his head no. She shrugged. "Suit yourself." She popped the cap off and took a swig, then plopped down in the chair opposite of him. "So, why don't you tell me why you're here? What is it that you're after?"

"I told you before, profit. I heard this is the best place to make a lot of it." he replied.

"Sure, whatever. I don't think I've heard such a load of bull in quite a while. Try again." she said.

Sky was dumfounded and at a loss of what to say. Whatever or whoever this woman was, she was certainly quick. He needed to come up with something that wouldn't arouse her suspicion any further without letting her know what he was really up to.

"Okay, I give. You're right, I'm not really here for profit. I'm here for revenge." he told her.

She nodded slightly. "Revenge against who? And for what?"

"Whoever runs this dump. My sister was exposed to some hazardous junk that this place puts out and she's really sick. She may even die." Sky did his best to appear worried and slightly saddened.

"A family matter, then. That I can kind of understand. But you're going about this in the wrong way, buddy boy. If you try to come sauntering in here like you own the place, I'll guarantee you'll get a one-way ticket out in a long box. These are not typical business people you're dealing with, they're downright nasty and cutthroat. They'd sooner cut down one of their own rather than anything threaten their little operation here." She leaned slightly towards him. "You seem like a pretty smart guy; tell you what, you help me out and I'll help you. What do you say?"

Sky wasn't certain that he liked the idea of getting into arrangement with this woman; especially since he didn't have any clue as to what she would expect of him, but he didn't see that he had any other choices. "Agreed."

"Good, that's settled then." She leaned back in her chair and took another sip of her beer.

Sky cleared his throat a little. She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Can I ask you something?" he said

"Ask all you like, but I make no promises to answer." she replied.

"Fair enough. Why would you want to help me? I mean, outside of getting my help in return. There's got to be a reason you'd even consider it and the fact that you didn't kill me outright when you first found me wandering around says something about you." He looked directly into her eyes.

Mandy shook herself mentally as he locked gazes with her. There was a depth to this man that she couldn't quite place. And he didn't strike her as being the usual criminal type either. She didn't completely buy his revenge story, but it sure sounded a heck of a lot better than the lame-ass excuse he had been touting. He was quick-witted and had a sharp attitude, and from their encounter in the hall, she figured that he had some pretty good training. At no point did he completely let his guard down and he had remained ready for anything. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she decided that she kind of liked this guy and felt that she might come to trust him. Almost. Mandy had a hard time trusting anyone in this hellhole.

She returned his gaze as she answered. "To be frankly honest, I don't trust anyone around here. Remember what I said about how they would cut each other down without a second thought?" Sky nodded briefly. "Well, I know that includes me. I could use someone to watch my back."

"So are you saying you trust me?" Sky asked.

"Hell no! I've known you what, all of five minutes? Certainly not enough time to come to trust one another, is it? But so far, out of all the scum bags here, you're the first I've met that seems to be worth something." She leaned far forward, until she was practically in Sky's face. "There's something different about you. I don't know what it is yet, but I'm willing to bet there's more to you than meets the eye. Do I believe that you really have a sick sister? Maybe or maybe not, but that's not the point. All I'm saying right now is that you're a newbie here, you need someone to get you in and I could use an extra set of eyes. A simple deal, nothing more. Think you can handle it?"

Sky drew back away from her slightly. He didn't know what her game was, but he knew he'd have to be careful and stay on his toes. The slightest slip around this woman would give him away to her in an instant. "Absolutely."

"Good." She put her unfinished beer down on the table and stood up. "I think it's time I took you around for some introductions."

------------------------

Z left her room, intending to search out one of her team mates. She had not seen Bridge since they all had left the command center. Bridge had been worried about Sky but also seemed to be agitated about something else too. After all he'd been through, you'd think the guy would learn to open up a bit more, she thought to herself. She glanced around the rec room; Bridge was no where in sight.

She tried to think of the places she would go if she were Bridge and wanted a quiet spot. It obviously wasn't here. Cadets were in and out practically all hours of the day. He certainly wouldn't be in the command center either. Not unless he wanted another lecture from Cruger. Maybe he had gone down to see Boom? The only problem with this theory was that Boom was not a quiet person. She tried to think of someplace he could go to that he wouldn't be bothered, and after a moment, she finally had her answer. The zord bay; the last place they had encountered each other. It would certainly be empty now as the runners had been destroyed in the battle against Omni. She really wasn't sure that Bridge would go there, but she figured it would be a good place to start.

She headed out of the rec room, taking the quickest way that would lead her to the vehicle compartment. As she walked, she thought of the last time she had been in there with Bridge. It seemed like ages ago.

_Z slowly unraveled the bandage, making sure that it wasn't sticking to the skin as she did so. As she worked, she began to hum slightly. Bridge chuckled, then closed his eyes as he listened to her. He continued to sit there, eyes closed, when Z stopped humming. "Bridge?" Z was confused. One minute, he had been a puddle of goo on the floor; the next, he looked as if he'd seen the joys of the heavens themselves. _

_Bridge slowly opened his eyes and looked at her; his eyes were bright, but Z was sure that it was for a completely different reason this time. "Hmm?" he questioned. Z cocked her head slightly at him. "What are you doing?"_

"_What do you mean?" he asked. She grinned at him. "You're sitting there like the cat that caught the proverbial canary. Like you're so happy all of a sudden. What brought that on? Not that it's a bad thing, it looks good on you."_

_Bridge shrugged. "Don't know. Just started to...feel happy all of a sudden." He smiled back at her. Z gently patted the top of his hand. "Well, it's all done now. Doctor Z thinks you'll live. You can put your glove back on." Z and Bridge quickly looked at each other as they both realized what had just happened. "Oh, Bridge, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I hope you didn't pick up too much."_

"_No, it's okay, really. I didn't mind. Actually, it was rather nice." he said._

Z wondered what he meant by that comment. She didn't know exactly what Bridge picked up from her, and when she tried to ask him about it later, he claimed he had things to do and practically ran off. She still hadn't been able to talk to him about it. Nor did she get the chance to bring up what happened in the infirmary either. She heard him say that he loved her in response to her own admission, but he never uttered a word about it afterwards. He didn't even act like he'd ever said it. Maybe, she thought, he didn't think he had. After all, he'd been pretty heavily drugged at the time; he might think he dreamed the whole thing up.

She sighed as she continued walking. She wanted to tell him how she really felt, but Bridge seemed reluctant about the whole thing. Perhaps he didn't feel the same way and only uttered those words because he'd been in pain and was looking for some bit of comfort. As far as she knew, he still hadn't talked to anyone about his experience aboard Gruumm's ship; the closest he'd come at all was the time when he broke down in the zord bay. Z could still see glimpses emerge now and again of the same pain he'd shown then; she just didn't know how to get him to open up about it.

Z was at a loss of what to do where it concerned Bridge. She didn't want to press him too much and drive him away, but she couldn't stand to see him in pain either. She continued down the corridor; looking at her feet and not paying any attention to where she was going, so it wasn't a surprise when she walked straight into someone leaving a room. She quickly looked up to see that it was Bridge who had just emerged from Kat's lab.

"Sorry, Z. I didn't see you there." Did his voice sound a bit nervous?, she wondered.

"It's ok, it was totally my fault, I wasn't paying any attention to what I was doing." She glanced at the door as it slid closed. "Were you just talking to Kat?"

"Boom, actually." he paused slightly. "About a project he and I are working on."

"What are you guys up to now?" she asked.

Bridge seemed caught off-guard. "Um...it's a surprise."

Z cocked an eyebrow at him. "Really?"

"Yah. As soon as it's done, you'll find out all about it." Just not in the way you expect, he thought to himself.

"I see." Z nodded.

"Well, I should be off then. If I don't find something to do, Cruger will most likely find one for me." Bridge chuckled as he started to walk away.

Z saw her opening and decided to take it. "Bridge! Wait!"

He stopped in his tracks and turned to look back at her. "What?"

She stepped up close to him and took a deep breath. "I think we need to talk."

_**To be continued**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. No copyright infringement is intended.


	5. Chapter 5: Confrontations

**Confrontations**

Treelatix paced around the command area of his ship, listening intently to someone speaking through a radio connection.

"So all is going well then?" Treelatix asked.

"Most assuredly. You'll have all you need and then some." The speaker on the other end of the line told him.

"Excellent. You will be handsomely rewarded for your efforts. Keep me informed." Treelatix replied.

"But of course. I am happy to be of any assistance." The unseen speaker cut the transmission.

Treelatix looked at the blue-green planet in his visual display screen. "Soon, all of Earth will pay in the name of the Troobian Empire." He smiled evilly.

------------------------

Simon Withers was an intricate man. The suave, debonair attitude he exuded belied what lay underneath. He was always the most polite, courteous and charming man any one could meet. He was also cold and calculating; someone who wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice anyone to further his goals. And heaven help those who dared stand in his way.

His latest business development would prove to be his most profitable yet. For Simon, it wasn't just about the money; he also reveled in power. He enjoyed feeling on top of the world; having women throw themselves at him, executives of companies wanted to do business with him, government officials wanted to be in his pocket. He wanted people to look up to him, see him for his greatness, awe at his intelligence and be envious of him. He leaned back in his chair, thinking of all the new avenues this latest deal would open. Soon, the entire world would want him. Possibly even make him their president. After that? Who knew? Maybe the galaxy. He could easily picture himself as the galactic president. He was enjoying that thought when there came a knock on his door.

He frowned a bit at this intrusion of his dreams, but he brought himself back to the here and now and re-applied his usual manner. "Come in."

The door opened and the attractive young woman he'd hired a few weeks ago stepped in, followed by a tall young man with piercing blue eyes.

Simon stood up behind his desk, stretching his arms out in welcome. "Mandy, my dear. How good it is to see you! All is well I hope?" He spoke in a light airy tone that was laced with a blue blood accent.

"Simon." She drawled his name as Simon twitched mentally. Mandy was beautiful it was true and she had a body most men would kill over. But she had a talent of butchering the English language that rather grated on Simon like fingernails on a chalkboard. Simon managed to look past that, because despite her horrendous accent, Mandy was good at what she did. Very good. Simon could never ask for anyone better.

"Everything's fine. I just wanted to drop in and see how you were doing." she replied.

"You are always most welcome to stop by at any time." he said. Simon caught her gaze and glanced briefly at the young man.

"Oh, and I wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine." She turned in Sky's direction.

"This is Nate. I know you said you could use a few more hands around here, and I called him up. I think he'll be a great help to your work, Simon. He's good." She gave Sky a pointed look.

Sky stepped forward and stretched out his hand. "Mandy's told me a lot about you. I'd like to work for you. Mandy says you're the best there is."

"Really?" Simon arched an eyebrow slightly and turned towards Mandy. "I never knew you thought so highly of me, my dear." Mandy seemed to blush just a bit. He turned back to Sky. "I hope she didn't tell you too much, otherwise I may have to end our business relationship before it even starts."

Sky became a bit unnerved by Simon's statement. He didn't completely suspect Simon was speaking in purely business terms. But then Simon laughed and grasped Sky's hand.

"I'm sure that if Mandy recommends you, you must be very good indeed." Mandy seemed to blush a bit more. "I'm sure you'll fit right in around here." He released Sky's hand and turned back to Mandy. "I'll leave it in your capable hands to show him the way things work around here. I'm sure you'll find the place that's best suited to his talents." Simon walked back to his desk and reclaimed his seat. "Thank you so very much for coming by. Please do so again, my door is always open."

"Of course. Thank you, Simon." Mandy responded. As she headed for the door, Sky followed her out. When the door had closed, Simon returned to his previous thoughts. Yes, things were definitely looking up for him. His little empire grew more with every passing day.

-------------------------

Mandy let out a huge breath when they had gotten several feet away from Simon's office. "I think he bought it." She told Sky under her breath.

"Why wouldn't he? Besides, he doesn't seem like very much." Sky replied.

Mandy stopped and quickly whirled to face Sky, stopping him in his tracks. "Don't underestimate Simon Withers. He may seem like the sweet, charming guy on top, but the truth is that he's a cruel and heartless bastard. He'll use you up and spit you out like yesterday's garbage." I should know, Mandy thought, I've already seen him do it. She shrugged the thoughts away.

"Ok, I believe you. I'll keep an eye out." Sky said.

"Make sure you do. One little slip-up here will cost you." She turned back around and continued down the hallway. She sighed. Why was it always the good ones that ended up getting hurt? she thought. She didn't want to see Simon take down anyone else. Especially not this one. She was a bit startled by her own thought. Though she didn't know why, she felt that there was something unusual about Nate… She had started to think of his whole name when she realized that she had never gotten his last name. She looked back over her shoulder at him.

"You know, I never did catch your last name." She said.

"That's because I never gave it." he replied.

They continued walking for a few more steps before Mandy spoke again. "So, you gonna make me wait all day or what? What is your last name, anyway?"

Sky had been trying to think of one ever since she first mentioned it. He was having a hard time coming up with one. He snagged the first thing that came to mind. "Landors."

"Nate Landors, eh? I reckon it works; lord knows I've heard worse in my day." She commented.

Sky wasn't quite sure what to make of Mandy. At times she seemed no better than the rest of the criminals that populated this place, but then she would say something that would surprise him. Like what did she just mean by that? Was she referring to all the different denizens that had ever come to her looking for a life of corruption or something more? She seemed like a contradiction onto herself. She certainly had Sky wondering about her. Perhaps she wasn't like the rest, maybe she really was a good person at heart. Or, as she had said about Simon, was that just the top layer she presented to the world at large and underneath she was just as cruel and heartless as she'd claimed him to be? 

Sky knew that he was getting himself deeper into whatever games these people were playing. And frankly, it scared him.

------------------------

Bridge sat nervously on the edge of his bed. The other unused bed was currently occupied by Z. She had suggested that they use his room to talk since he didn't have to worry about a roommate walking in at any moment. When she had said that they needed to talk, Bridge's mind began to race. Did she want to talk about what he was really up to? Or prod him to open up about his time on Gruumm's ship? Perhaps something else entirely? Bridge thought that he had said he loved her when he was in the infirmary, but he'd been under sedation so he wasn't sure if that whole scene actually happened or if he'd just imagined it.

He looked at the young woman sitting across from him. He had feelings for her, but he wasn't sure how to express them. Of if she shared similar feelings for him. Too often, he'd been interested in a girl and they'd all rejected him after a while. To quote his first girlfriend, he'd been 'just too weird'. The closest he came to having a girl care about him was Sophie. And she wasn't even human. He sighed.

Z had finally gotten her moment and now she didn't know where to begin. Why did things have to be so complicated? she thought. She wanted badly to do nothing more than to fling her arms around him and tell him how she really felt, but she didn't want to scare him off. He still carried a lot of issues that he hadn't dealt with and she didn't want to add to his problems. Not to mention that she had no clue if he cared for her in the same way. First things, first. Bridge's emotional state had to take a higher priority than her feelings.

She met Bridge's gaze with a steady look; he seemed nervous as hell, like a rabbit that'd been cornered by a fox. Almost as if she would eat him alive at any moment. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the thought.

"Bridge..." Z glanced briefly at the floor, momentarily breaking his eye contact. "I don't really know where to start or how, so I'll just have to dive in." She looked back up at him.

"What really happened to you while you were on Gruumm's ship? I swear, I won't tell anyone else. But you need to talk about it so you can get past it. I can't say that you'll ever fully get over it, most people can't. But you at least need to come to terms with it otherwise you'll only hurt yourself in the long run." She waited anxiously for Bridge's response.

Bridge had hoped that was the one topic she wouldn't bring up. Logically, he knew she was right; he needed to deal with his feelings so that he could move on, but knowing it and doing it was virtually impossible. He was rather glad that he didn't have a roommate at the moment; he'd probably keep the other person up at night with all the tossing and turning he did. Not to mention the nightmares. What would people think if they knew that a Ranger spent most of his nights huddled in a corner?

"I..." Bridge shook and then bowed his head. He could hardly make himself say anything. "I don't know what to say, Z. I know you're right, but I just can't seem to make myself bring it up." Although my mind does that pretty well on its own, he thought.

"Just start at the beginning. Tell me what happened after you vanished from the warehouse." Z prompted.

"Well, I had seen that Treelatix had some kind of device at the time. I didn't know what it was then; I thought that it had to be some kind of weapon that he was going to use against Jack. So I just charged in. I didn't know it was really a trap until later." He looked back up at her. "I don't even know if it was me he was truly after, he could've been trying to get Jack." He sighed. "At any rate, it turned out to be a transporter. He took us to Gruumm's ship."

"I don't remember what happened at first, I think Treelatix knocked me out. I just know that I woke up in a cell, kind of like the one that Gruumm had us in when Piggy rescued us." Z nodded as he continued.

"Morgana had come by a couple of times just to try to scare me. She wasn't very successful." At least not until later, he thought.

"After a while, I wasn't sure how long I'd been there at that point, Gruumm decided that he wanted to try to get some information from me about S.P.D." Z saw that he started to tremble slightly. "That's when he and Morgana figured that they'd get something out of me any way they could." He went back to staring at the floor as his shaking increased. He could feel himself shudder and was embarrassed by it. He, a Ranger, sat quaking like a leaf in the wind, as if he was some scared child.

Z could tell that Bridge was really struggling to continue. She got up and sat next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, startled, because he hadn't even noticed that she'd moved. His eyes were moist. "Its okay, Bridge." she said gently. "I know it's hard, but you can do this. I'm here for you."

He saw the tender look in Z's eyes and couldn't hold it back anymore. He flung himself at her, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his head in her lap. He was overcome by great choking sobs and he shook all over. Z wasn't terribly surprised by his actions; she rather guessed something like this would happen. She began to gently stoke his head, not saying anything, just being there for him.

He continued to sob for a bit, then gradually began to calm down. He still shook slightly and shed some tears, but the worst seemed to have passed. He just held on to Z, feeling her fingers run through his hair. What must she think of me now? he thought.

"I think you're still a great guy, Bridge, and a friend. I don't think any differently of you at all." Z stated.

He looked up at her, shocked. How did she know to say that? It was almost as if she was responding to his unspoken thought.

Z saw the odd expression on Bridge's face, not sure what was going on in his head at that moment. "You okay?"

"Uh, yeah, you just surprised me is all." he said.

"At least I can keep you on your toes." She smiled at him.

"I suppose." He sniffled once and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Bridge..." She reached out and caught his hand. "That's not all there is to it, is there? There's still a lot more you haven't told me about yet."

Bridge swallowed thickly and shook his head slightly. "No, that's not all. Everything they did, it was..." he trailed off.

Z slid closer to Bridge, gently pushing him up into more of a sitting position; then wrapped her arms around him, drawing him to her. "Tell me Bridge, I'm not going to let you face this alone. I'll never let you go."

Bridge passionately wished she meant that as more than a friend. He leaned against Z, sighing and closing his eyes. "Well, when they first decided to start questioning me…"

Bridge told her all they put him through, how they seemed to enjoy it and eventually how he managed to get himself out. He even told her how he had become depressed and hopeless while he was there. He cried through parts of it, sometimes shaking so hard that he rattled the entire bed. Z never said anything throughout it all; she just held onto him.

"And that's when I found myself back on earth. You know the rest from there." he finished. He closed his eyes, relaxing in Z's comforting grasp. Though he was exhausted, he felt better than he had in weeks. He could feel himself starting to drift off, though he tried to keep awake. "Thanks, Z." he murmured. "For everything..." his voice became quieter as he lost the battle with his fatigue.

Z could tell that Bridge had fallen asleep in her arms by the slow and steady pace his breathing had taken. She assumed that he probably didn't have a real good night's sleep in a long time, so she just continued to hold him, letting him rest. She hugged him closer; he shifted slightly, snuggling up to her and snaking an arm around her waist. If only we could stay like this forever, Z thought. Well, I'll take what I can get for now. She bent her head down and placed a kiss on the top of his head. Bridge sighed contentedly in his sleep. As she leaned back against the wall, waiting for Bridge to wake up, she had one final thought run through her mind; if you only knew how much I cared for you...

------------------------

Syd was stretched out on her bed, idly flipping through a magazine. This was probably the most bored she'd ever been since she started at the academy. There wasn't much she could do at the command center, even Cruger had said so. There wasn't much point in her running scans either; there were plenty of other cadets that could do that. And they'd caught the last of the remaining Troobians, except of course for Treelatix.

Sky was on an undercover mission working to gain information about the mysterious translucent substance; while Z and Bridge were... she stopped her thoughts for a moment. What were they up to anyway? Syd knew that Bridge still had a few problems left; it could be that because of her street experience, Z might just have what was needed to bring Bridge around. Syd hoped so; she had tried to talk to him about it but the conversation never got anywhere.

She dropped her magazine with a sigh. She _had_ to find something to do otherwise she'd go completely nuts. She got up from the bed and left her room. She entered the rec room and looked around. There were plenty of cadets around, but she didn't spot anyone she knew. She headed out to the hallway, trying to think of which direction she should head in.

"Syd! Watch out!" She heard a shout.

She turned just as Sam crashed into her, almost knocking her down; Sam did fall. Syd could see why; he had a pair of skates on his feet and he must have lost control when she stepped into his path. She looked down at the boy, who had a sheepish smile on his face.

"You should know better than to go skating through the halls. What if Cruger catches you? You'll be in a lot of trouble then." She reached out and grasped one of Sam's arms, helping him up.

"Thanks. I know you're right, but we were all just so bored." Syd heard some faint giggling coming from nearby. "There's nothing to do."

"Still, that's no reason to play around in the halls. Isn't there a track room or something you could use?" she asked him.

"There is, but a bunch of older cadets are in there and they won't let us use it." Sam replied.

"Yah, another small voice piped up. Syd looked to see four other kids roughly Sam's age emerge from around the corner. A small blond girl looked right at her. "They've been in there all day, and they won't let anyone else in." She curled her bottom lip in a pout.

"Hmm, I think we'll have to do something about that." Syd gave them all a wink. The kids all seemed ecstatic.

Okay, so playing hero to a bunch of small kids wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but at least it will give me something to do, Syd thought to herself. Besides, the older cadets had no right to push around the young ones. It was conduct unbecoming of potential S.P.D. officers and she intended to set them straight. She followed Sam and his friends down the corridor.

------------------------

Sky followed Mandy down yet another hall. She'd introduced him to over a dozen people at this point, and Sky thought he'd have a hard time trying to keep everyone straight. As they entered what appeared to be a lounge, Sky spotted the guard from the alley. Mandy seemed to be headed straight for him.

He looked up as they approached, a slight grimace forming on his face. "What is it now? Back to berate me some more on how badly I suck, Mandy?"

Mandy placed both hands on her hips and stared him down. "I wouldn't have to if you'd do your job properly."

He jerked to his feet. "Just a damn minute! I'm getting sick of you bossing me around all the time, treating me like dirt. I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I've got orders from Simon himself. What are **you** supposed to be doing?"

"That's none of your business. If it was, I'd have told you ages ago. But I did have to stop by to tell you something." He groaned slightly. "This is Nate Landors." She pointed at Sky. "Simon just hired him on. I think he'd do best starting out with some guard duty. Can I assume that you can handle showing him the ropes?"

Sky could hear the man growl under his breath. "Of course! What, do you take me for a complete idiot?"

"Trust me, you don't want me to answer that question, Trask." She turned to Sky. "Nate, this is Trask Garner. He'll show you around from here. I've got things I need to take care of." She looked back at Trask. "Don't lose him, or you'll answer to me." She stalked off.

"Little bitch." Sky heard Trask mutter. "Alright then, Simon just hired you, huh?" He briefly looked Sky over. "I suppose you look like you know how to fight. Come with me." Trask headed out of the room, Sky right on his heels.

"Mostly what I do around here is to secure the main entrance. So unwanteds don't get in." Trask told him. Fine job you're doing there, Sky thought, but didn't say anything.

"So how did Simon come to hire you?" Trask asked.

Sky thought quickly. It was pretty obvious that Trask and Mandy didn't get along at all, so telling him that Mandy had brought him in would likely get him and Trask off on the wrong foot.

"I heard there was some work open. So I asked around." he replied.

Trask nodded. "Yah, Simon's being putting the word out. But you have to know where to go to find out about it." He glanced back at Sky. "So who did you come in under?"

Sky hesitated a moment. "Well, honestly I'm not sure you're going to like it. I came in contact with Mandy."

"Figures. I can't fault her for that though. She has brought a couple of really good people in here. She has a knack of finding the best people." He stopped and turned towards Sky. "That doesn't mean I have to like her, though."

"I can understand that. You can't always like the people you work with. It's all up to your boss anyway. As long as the boss is happy, you just have to deal with it." Sky replied.

"Exactly! I'll admit Mandy's pretty good. She can whip the shit out of everyone here, and knows it, but she doesn't need to carry on with that superior attitude of hers all the time. It grates on the nerves after a while, you know?"

"I get you." Sky responded. "Being good at your job is fine and all, but nobody likes a smart ass."

"I can tell you and I are going to get along just fine. C'mon, I'll show you all the security areas and then get you hooked up on the duty roster."

Sky continued to follow Trask through the building.

------------------------

Bridge woke up slowly. It was the best sleep he'd gotten in weeks. He felt completely relaxed and comfortable for once. He started to stretch, then realized that he was sort of scrunched up and penned in. Normally, if he'd awakened to find himself in this sort of position, he'd instantly be flying up out of the bed, panicked to get free. But this time all he felt was secure and protected. He also realized that his head rested on something soft; very soft. He opened his eyes to see Z sitting above him, back leaning against the wall, her eyes closed. Bridge slowly raised himself up, so as not to disturb her. She had apparently fallen asleep just as Bridge had. He sat there, just looking at her. Her long dark lashes rested against her pale skin and her lips were slightly parted. She's so beautiful, Bridge thought. He shook his head slightly at himself. There's no way she could possibly be interested in me. No one that looked as good as she did would want to have anything to do with the likes of me.

Z stirred slightly and her eyes fluttered open. She awoke to see Bridge staring intently at her. She smiled at him. "Did you enjoy your rest?"

"Yes. Thank you. I really needed that."

"Good." She pushed away from the wall and stretched, extending her arms upwards, arching her back as she did so. Bridge couldn't help but watch her.

Z caught on to the fact that Bridge hadn't taken his eyes off her ever since she woke. She wondered what he was thinking. If only he looked at me as more than just a friend, she thought.

She realized that the room was significantly darker than it had been. She sat up straight. "What time is it?"

"I have no idea." Bridge replied. He grabbed the clock off of his nightstand. "6:04pm. Gosh, it's later than I thought."

"We must have slept a while, then. C'mon, we'd better put in an appearance before people start wondering where the blue and yellow rangers vanished to." She chuckled slightly.

"Yah, guess we'd better." Bridge slid off the bed and offered a hand to help her up.

Surprised, Z took it, blushing slightly. "Thanks."

"No problem. Anytime." Bridge reluctantly released her hand.

She nodded slightly. "Let's go." she said as she headed for the door.

Bridge sighed. What he wouldn't give to have her with him always.

_**To be continued**_


	6. Chapter 6: Trouble on the Horizon

Syd walked in on the group of cadets that were horsing around in the hardwood room. "Hey!" she called out, getting their attention. "What's going on here?"

She watched as the cadets came to attention.

"Nothing, ma'am. We were just messing around since there's not much else to do right now." A tall brown-haired boy answered.

"Yah, there's nothing going on. What I wouldn't give for some action!" a shorter blond boy spoke up.

Syd looked them over; she figured they ranged in age from about 13 to 15. She stepped in front of them all. "You think you want action, do you?" They all nodded vigorously. "Well, let me be the first to tell you that you really don't. Trust me, there have been plenty of days where we've seen too much 'action'. I'm sure there'll come a time when you feel the same way."

"Now, what's this I hear about you clowns bossing around other cadets?" she asked harshly.

The cadets before her shifted nervously. A young-red haired girl stepped forward. "We weren't doing any such thing. We've just been in here minding our own business. No one else has even come by."

"She's lying!" a shout rang out from behind Syd. The little blond girl came running up, the others trailing after her. "They wouldn't let us use the room even though they'd been in here for hours already. They called us a bunch of stupid little kids and chased us out."

Syd turned back to the older cadets, fury showing on her face. "No, she's the one that's lying!" the red-head blurted out. "Those kids have been following us everywhere, like they're our shadow or something, just trying to get us in trouble. They're nothing but a bunch of spoiled little brats, if you ask me. And they're mad because they're finally not getting what they want for once."

"Why you..." Sam started to step forward, when Syd put out a hand to stop him. "Enough!" She looked back and forth between both sets of cadets. "You're S.P.D. cadets, this is not how you treat each other." What I wouldn't give to have Bridge's ability right now, she wished. Then I could tell for sure who's giving it straight.

"Let's back up for a moment, shall we." She turned towards Sam and his friends. "Sam, have you guys been following them around? I want an honest answer."

Sam and the others fidgeted in place. The little blond girl looked up at her. "Yes, ma'am. We're sorry. But we thought perhaps we could learn something by watching some of the older cadets. We didn't mean any harm, honestly."

Syd nodded slightly, then turned to the others. "And you? Are they right about the room? And you chasing them off?"

The red-head folded her arms across her chest and tossed her head arrogantly. "They deserved it. They're such little pests."

"I said, that's enough!" Syd stepped up so that she was face to face with the red-head. The other girl dropped her arms and stepped back from Syd. "No matter what they did to you, and from the sounds of it, they were just being curious; you all on the other hand..." She looked at each of them in turn, causing them to shrink away from her. "You were just being plain mean and vindictive. And you were lording it over those younger than you, just because they wouldn't be able to stand up to you." She shook her head.

"I'm ashamed to be considered S.P.D. with the likes of you in the ranks." They all lowered their heads. "Bullying and belittling others, particularly those who are weaker than you, is no way for potential officers to carry on!"

She took a few steps away from them, then turned back and glared at them all. "I should report your conduct to your superiors." The red-head jerked her head up as if she was going to say something, but one of her comrades elbowed her in the side. She closed her mouth and looked back down at the floor.

"But I won't. This time. I know it's hard to find things to occupy your time right now, but believe me; picking on other cadets is not the way to do it. Unless you think you'd enjoy scrubbing the latrines with your toothbrushes?" They all shook their heads vehemently. "Alright then. Off with you. And stay out of trouble this time. Otherwise I'll track you down and make good on that threat of bathroom cleaning." They all scampered for the door.

"Alright!" one of the younger cadets yelled out.

"Cool!" another said.

"Hang on a second. I'm not quite done with you guys yet either." They all stopped celebrating and stood still.

"I appreciate the idea of trying to learn more by watching others. It's a good idea really." The kids all smiled at her. "But..." she held up a finger for emphasis. "Spying on your fellow cadets is not acceptable. You just saw what can happen." They all nodded.

"Next time you want to observe someone, ask them first. There are plenty of older cadets around that would be happy to oblige you. Many of them wouldn't mind having an audience to show off to." Kind of like Sky did. He even used to have his own little click of fans. At first he'd gotten a kick out of it, but after a while it began to unnerve him, especially since they had taken to following him literally everywhere. He had to pull a rather nasty prank with Bridge's help to get them to leave him alone. Syd was surprised that they'd never got caught, especially with the mess that resulted. It took months for the janitorial staff to get it all cleaned up. She chuckled lightly to herself. There were days that Syd wished that she could be that carefree again. All of them actually.

She looked back down at the group of five young cadets before her. "Got it?"

"Sure do. Next time, we'll ask first. Thanks, Syd." Sam said.

"Don't mention it, just try to keep out of trouble, okay?" she ruffled his hair as she walked past him. He tried to swat her hand away, but missed. She laughed at him. "See you, Sam." She strode through the door and headed off through the corridors.

------------------------

Sky completed his guard duty and wandered into the lounge area. There wasn't much in the room and it certainly didn't look that great. A couple of old sofas and several chairs were scattered around. A large and well-worn pool table dominated the right corner. There were several scrape marks on its surface and one leg was propped up by a couple of books. Must not be in balance, Sky surmised.

He walked over to the fridge and took a look inside it. There were several beers, an expired container of milk and a pizza box that had nothing left but gnawed-on crust pieces. Oh good, I see I get to starve while I'm here too, he thought to himself.

"Hey, you ain't going to find much in there." Sky glanced over to see Mandy by the door. "The guys never stock anything other than beer and pizza in that fridge. There might be some leftover slices though." She had finally come to stand next to him and glanced in at the contents of the appliance. "Or not."

She reached in front of Sky, grabbed the fridge door and shoved it closed. "C'mon with me. I got some stuff." She headed for the door; she stopped when she realized that Sky wasn't following her. "Well, you coming or not?"

Sky could kind of see what Trask meant by her attitude. It wasn't so much that she was arrogant in Sky's opinion as it was that her personality just seemed to take over any situation she was present in. Sky wondered if it was a conscious choice or not. "Yah, I'm coming." he started walking towards her. "Where are we going?"

"To my room. I have to keep things stashed in there, otherwise these hogs would eat it all in no time flat." She headed up the hallway.

They didn't say anything on their walk there; Sky waited patiently as she unlocked the door. He noticed that once again she had turned in such a way that she blocked Sky from seeing what she was completely doing. He was curious about that; he might have to check it out later. When Mandy wasn't around. He didn't want to know what her reaction would be if she thought he was trying to break into her room.

She finally got it open and motioned for Sky to come inside. "Thanks." he said as he passed her.

"No prob. I know it can be kind of rough around here on your first day." She closed the door behind her. "Have a seat; I'll see what I can scrounge up."

"Is there something I can help you with?" he asked.

"Nope, I got it. It's been a while since I've cooked for anyone other than myself. I kind of miss it."

"You cook? How do you do that in here? I don't see a stove..." he stopped as she pulled out a portable electric cook top.

"Oh, ok. You don't seem very much like the cooking type." she glanced at him, frowning slightly. "Of course, I realize that I don't actually know you yet, so how can I make any judgments about you?"

"Nice save." She continued to pull out cookware and set her things on the countertop before turning to the small refrigerator. While she worked, Sky glanced around at her room. She didn't have many things in here, but the few things she had got his interest.

"The Art of War by Sun Tzu?" he glanced back at her. She looked over at him and shrugged. "What can I say, I like to learn from the best." Sky nodded and continued to scan the room. He noted a few other books of interest, but other than that she didn't have much else. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. It had been a while since he had stood any kind of guard duty; he forgot how tiring it could be even though one never did much. He rested the back of his head on the top of the chair and just let his thoughts wander.

After a while a smell snagged his attention and his stomach complained; it had been a while since he'd last eaten. He sat back up only to find that his neck had cramped from sitting the way he had. Mandy strode over and handed him a plate of food. He was shocked to see chicken, rice and beans. He looked up at her. "Wow. You cooked all that just now? That must be record time or something." He took the plate from her as she sat down in the chair opposite him.

She laughed. "No, it wasn't record time. You just fell asleep, my friend."

"Really? Sorry about that, doesn't make for terribly good company that way."

"Don't worry about it. I was kind of occupied anyway." she pointed at the food.

"Thanks. I don't think I've had anyone cook anything for me in a long time." He took a bite. "This is really good."

"Thanks. And you're welcome by the way. Where do you usually catch your meals then?"

He was about to say in the mess hall, but caught himself just in time. "When I'm out and about. I usually have a pretty hectic schedule, so I just grab something along the way."

She shook her head at him. "That's not a good way to do it, Nate. Just think of all the crud you get that way. Half of what's sold out there is just junk and it doesn't even do you any good. Think about it, if you had something decent to eat recently, you probably wouldn't be passing out just from a little guard duty." she chuckled lightly.

He grinned at her. "I suppose I can see the logic in that."

They continued their meal in silence. Sky was a lot hungrier than he realized. He finished his food long before Mandy did. He glanced around for someplace to put the dirty plate and utensil, but didn't see a sink anywhere.

"Just leave it on the table. I'll take all this stuff down to the lounge and toss it in the dishwasher there. Nobody else seems to use it anyway." Mandy shrugged. She finished her food and put the plate down on the table. She looked over at Sky as she leaned back in her chair.

"So, Nate Landors. Tell me about yourself. How did you end up in this line of work?"

Sky had expected her to question him about his past at some point, so he had spent his guard duty shift thinking up a background story. "Well, when I was younger I wanted to do something that made a difference, but after my parents were killed and no one cared or did anything about it, I realized that there wasn't much point in trying to help others. I mean, they only care about themselves, if you're lucky you might get a 'thank you', but then they'll turn their backs when you're the one that needs help. So I decided to get involved with something where I only had to look out after myself."

"And your sister of course." she added.

"What?" Sky seemed confused.

"Your sister." She looked at him questioningly. "The one you're here to get revenge for?"

Shit, Sky thought, he had forgotten that he'd said that before. "Of course, her too. I always include her in my thoughts, even if I forget to say anything, since I think about her so much."

Mandy nodded. "I'll bet. Most people have a tendency to put their family before themselves, wouldn't you agree?"

"Absolutely. Otherwise, life seems kind of pointless, doesn't it?" Sky hoped that she bought his excuse. Goddammit Sky, he thought to himself, at this rate you won't have to worry about someone blowing your cover, you're doing a hell of a job on your own. I knew this woman was quick; I'd better pay more attention from now on. You can bet sure as hell that she's going to be watching for any other mistakes. He smiled slightly at her.

Mandy nodded agreement at him. Nate had tried to cover his slip, but it was already too late. She knew that he wasn't who he claimed to be, she doubted that Nate was even his real name. The question that nagged at her was; what was he doing here? Was he from a rival company looking to steal information? Or did he work for one of Simon's adversaries? Mandy knew that Simon had quite a few enemies; any one of them would love an opportunity to mess up his business. She decided to let the slip go for now; she wanted to find out what this guy's deal really was.

"I see. You have some interesting views there. Most people around here wouldn't care about anyone else, even if it was a family member." she told him.

"Then they don't know what they're missing. What's the point of having a life if you don't have at least one person to share it with?" he replied.

Mandy held back a look of surprise. That was not something she'd expect to hear from someone who had a criminal lifestyle. Who the hell is this guy, anyway?, she thought. He seemed a contradiction; leading a shady life, yet having a surprising optimistic view of things. Mandy didn't know what to think of him, but she decided that she was determined to figure him out.

"What about you? How did you wind up here?" Sky asked in an attempt to shift the focus away from himself.

"Oh man, that's such a long story." she replied. "It's really not that interesting, either."

"Why don't you give it a try? It's not like I've currently got anything better to do." He gave her an encouraging smile.

"Alright, but I warned you." she leaned forward slightly in her chair. "Well, I started out as an orphan on the streets. I couldn't hack the children's homes, they all sucked and the people who worked there didn't give a rat's ass about the kids. Kind of like what you just said about people not caring." She looked at him pointedly. "At any rate, I ran into this old Chinese man who decided that he was going to take me under his wing. Actually, he'd caught me trying to steal from him and he thought I needed to be taught a lesson." She laughed. "That was the worst ass-whipping I'd ever had. But after that, he thought that I had potential so he taught me how to fight and live off the streets. He was the only family I'd ever had." She grew solemn. "Then one night, he was caught in the cross-fire between a couple of rival gangs. I decided then that I needed to get myself off of the streets and into something better, so I traded off on my ability to fight to get in with a few of the operations scattered around. Eventually word got around that I was pretty good, and to my surprise, I had people seeking me out for hire. How funny is that?" she sighed briefly. "I heard about Simon's operation and decided to check it out. Once I proved to him that I was good as I claimed to be, he hired me on the spot. Though I gave a lot of his other staff some pretty good headaches in the process." She grinned.

Sky grinned back. "Trask had made some comment to me about how you could take on anyone here. I didn't think he was exaggerating as he doesn't seem to get along with you very much. What is the deal between you two anyway?"

"Ugh, Trask." she groaned. "In short? I think he's the biggest moron I've ever met. He can fight well enough, don't get me wrong, but he seems incapable of using more than two brain cells at once. For instance, look at how you got in here. If Trask had any sense, he would never abandon his post like that. At the very least, anyone smart would call for a replacement, you know?"

Sky nodded as she continued. "There's that and also the fact that when I first showed Simon that I could handle myself, Trask was the first to take me on. He went down the quickest. He still hasn't lived it down."

Sky chuckled. "I guess I can see how that might be embarrassing." Sky noted Mandy looking at him intently. "I don't mean in that it's because you're a girl or anything like that..." Sky spoke quickly, "but rather that Trask seems the type to go on about how great he is and then make a fool of himself when he's proven otherwise." he finished.

"That's true. Trask does have a tendency to make an ass of himself on a regular basis." she laughed.

Sky yawned hugely, catching himself off-guard. "Wow, I must still be a bit tired."

"They have assigned you a place to sleep, I assume? Otherwise, I'll have to kick Trask's ass again!"

"Yeah, they got me a place. Nothing fancy though, just a bed in a shared room." He stood up. "But that's really all I need anyway." He looked at her for a long moment. "Thanks for the meal and the company, Mandy. I enjoyed it."

"Don't mention it. Most of the guys around here won't talk to me unless its work related. Guess I'm not all that popular when I'm not working." she sighed slightly. "It's been interesting to talk to you as well, Nate. We'll have to do it again." She got up and opened the door for him.

"See you around. Good night." he said as he walked out.

"Later." she said as she closed the door, then locked it. Oh yes, Nate, she thought to herself, I fully intend to talk with you again. You're a mystery that I plan to unravel.

Sky had several thoughts running through his head as he headed towards his bunk. What was up with him falling asleep like that? He was supposed to be undercover, keeping an eye on these people, watching out for himself, and here he was nodding off right underneath one of them. God, Mandy could have taken me out right then and there if she had wanted to, came the thought. Even when he was on duty, he'd been keeping an eye on the others as well as looking out for possible intruders. Oddly though, he had felt relaxed and at ease in her company than at any other time today.

He shook his head at himself. Mandy was a lot more astute than she appeared to be. She had a knack for getting information without seeming to do so. Sky had thought that everything he said at the time seemed innocent enough, but looking back on it, he realized he gave away more about himself than he had intended. What the hell was I thinking? Most criminals don't even think those ways, let alone talk about them. He wondered if Mandy had realized what he'd done. I hope not, he thought; otherwise this mission has just gotten a lot more complicated.

------------------------

Bridge walked into Kat's lab, looking for Boom. He spotted him across the room, sitting at a computer console. Bridge glanced around, he and Boom were the only ones in the lab.

Boom looked up when the door opened. "Hey Bridge."

"How's it going Boom? I meant to check in with you earlier, but I got caught up in some other things. Sorry about that." Bridge told him.

"It's okay. I know you guys are busy. Hey, come check this out, I think I've made some progress on your idea." Bridge crossed the room and joined Boom in front of the computer screen.

"Here's all the different signals your morphers can put out. Most of these are things that you guys use all the time, of course. Like the radio communication, scanner and judgment modes. These..." he pointed at a smaller series of signals that were displayed on the screen, "are the ones that are just put out either from the electronic components themselves or by-products of the stronger signals."

He zoomed in on one in particular. "This one is interesting because it was used long ago as a method to triangulate positions." He looked at Bridge. "And it's completely passive. I mean, it's not strong enough to override any other signals, though it could be adjusted to do that; but the important thing is that it's likely to go undetected." Boom finished triumphantly.

"Likely to." Bridge looked hard at Boom. "Are you saying that someone besides us could pick up on it?"

"Um, well, yes." Bridge started to shake his head, but Boom spoke up, "Wait, hear me out. The thing about this signal is that it's been obsolete since the late 1990's, so no-one's going to notice it unless they know exactly what they're looking for."

"And we can definitely use this to track Sky?" Bridge asked.

"Yep, in fact before the invention of global positioning, this was used all the time for navigation. Here, let me show you." Boom grabbed a small receiver from the desk and backed up to the far wall. "I've already set this to pick up the signal." He flipped it on and it immediately began to chirp. "It will get louder the closer you get to the source." He took a couple of steps towards Bridge and the sound increased. By the time he stood next to Bridge, it was so loud that it almost hurt their ears. Boom turned it off.

Bridge thought for a few moments, when he hit upon something. "Boom, I'm not sure if this will work."

Boom's face fell. "Why not?"

"That thing just picked up on the signal coming from my morpher right?" Boom nodded. "Then how are we supposed to track Sky's morpher if it's picking up on ours too?"

"I'm glad you asked that." Boom had a huge grin on his face. "I thought of that. Because your morphers are configured to each of you individually, there is a signal outputted that's specific to you. It's how we can track you from the command center. Even if the signal is inactivated, it still has a slight output, its low enough that it can't be picked up, but if I interlace it with this other signal; it will allow you to track an individual morpher without giving anything away."

Bridge nodded as he thought it through. "Ok that will seem to work. But is there anyway you could decrease the volume? I don't want to have this making us all deaf while we're trying to find Sky."

"Oh, sure, that's easy. No problem. I'll get started on finishing it right away." Boom said.

"Thanks, Boom. You've been a big help. Seems your radio hobby has come in handy once again."

Boom looked up at him. "You're right! I hadn't thought about that! Gee! I wonder if I should build another radio?" Bridge arched his eyebrows. "Or maybe not, I'm not sure if I want to hear any more transmissions from the future." He shuddered.

Bridge grinned and started to leave the lab. "Hey, Bridge." Bridge stopped and turned back to look at Boom.

"You want to know something really weird? You'll love this."

Bridge titled his head, curious. "What, Boom?"

"This particular radio signal has a name. It's Omega."

------------------------

Z returned to her room, still feeling a little tired despite her nap.

Syd walked in less than a minute later.

"There you are. I was wondering where you had gone off to." Syd spoke.

"I was around." Z wasn't sure how much she should tell Syd. But she had a right to know about Bridge; he was her friend too and she'd known him longer than Z had. "Actually, I was talking to Bridge."

Syd's eyes lit up. "Really? What about?"

Z took a deep breath before continuing. "About what really happened to him on Gruumm's ship."

Syd sat down on her bed, giving Z her undivided attention. "And? How did it go?"

"Better than I expected. I think Bridge has finally overcome his ordeal. I mean, I don't think he'll ever forget it but at least now he can move on without it dragging him down all the time."

"Z, that's great! I was hoping he'd get better, but I didn't know how to talk to him about it. How did you do it?"

"I really didn't do much. I just gave him a willing set of ears." Z replied.

"Huh, how about that. So what did happen to him? I know they must have done some pretty horrible things..."

Z stopped her mid-sentence. "Trust me, Syd, you really don't want to know."

Syd arched her eyebrows at her. "Really that bad?"

Z just nodded.

"Poor Bridge. No wonder he was having such a hard time. You sure he's better now?" Syd asked.

"At least he's better than he has been. I think he'll still have some recurring issues over the next couple of weeks, but the worst is over." Z told her.

"That's really good, then." Syd said.

"So what did you do today, Syd?" Z asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, I got to play rescuer to Sam and his friends." Syd responded.

"Sam? Is he okay? I haven't even seen him in a couple of days." Z started to worry about her young friend.

"He's fine, it wasn't that kind of rescue. They were being bullied by some older cadets and I had to remind them about the academy's code of conduct. I don't think that particular bunch will be bossing anyone else around anytime soon." She chuckled lightly.

Z gave her a sly look. "What did you do, Syd?"

"Nothing." Syd shrugged, pretending to be innocent. "I just told them that if they misbehaved again, I'd have them cleaning the bathrooms with toothbrushes."

Z and Syd both laughed.

------------------------

Treelatix impatiently sat aboard his ship. He knew that S.P.D. was looking for him and he didn't want to reveal himself to them just yet. He had come up with a fool-proof plan to take over Earth. He just needed a bit more materials to put his plan into action.

Once he had that, conquest of Earth would be easy. "And then I shall free you, Emperor Gruumm. And all the other Troobians." He laughed manically.

_**To be continued**_

------------------------

_Note: Yes, I did do an actual bit of research for the Bridge & Boom scene. There really is a man-made signal known as OMEGA. From the nasa.gov website: "OMEGA was a navigation signal operated by the US Coast Guard and other countries around the world. In the frequency range above 10 kilohertz, the signal could be heard as a repeating series of tones. On the spectrogram, OMEGA shows up as a series of horizontal dashes of about one-second duration. Each of the seven OMEGA stations transmitted a unique pattern of four tones that repeated every ten seconds. OMEGA ceased operation in September 1997, done in by the advent of global positioning system (GPS) technology." When I came across this, I just knew I had to use it for this story! Hope you agree!_

_-------------------------_

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, no copyright infringement is intended.


	7. Chapter 7: Revelations

Simon stood outside under the cover of the loading dock, keeping a careful watch as his men loaded crates onto a truck. This was the first of his scheduled deliveries and he wanted to make certain that nothing went wrong. One of the men grunted and the end of the crate that he was carrying slipped from his grasp; landing heavily onto the concrete floor.

"Stop!" Simon yelled out. Instantly, everyone froze in place. Simon stepped forward, frowning. The man who dropped the box seemed to get more nervous the closer that Simon got to him. He stepped up to the man in question, but turned to look instead at the one who was directing all the traffic. "What is wrong with you?" He turned away from the crate carrying man, who had a look of relief etched on his face. Simon walked up to the loading supervisor. "You know how important this cargo is; how volatile their contents, what the hell were you thinking by only assigning two men to each crate, knowing how heavy they are?"

"Simon, I thought you wanted them loaded quickly…" he started but Simon cut him off.

"I said as quickly as possible, but I believe I emphasized that they needed to be handled carefully more than speed, correct?"

"Um,…" the dock supervisor looked down at his feet.

"If you don't have enough men here to get the job done in time, recruit some more. I'm sure there are plenty inside that have nothing better to do."

"Yes, sir, Simon, sir." He turned tailed and scampered into the building, glad to be away from Simon's wrath.

Simon turned back to look at all the other men who stood around, awaiting an order.

"Double up on those crates. Four men to each one. Don't pull out any more until all the ones currently on the dock are loaded."

The men all started to move, two men to one end of a crate, one man per each corner.

Simon watched as they slowly cleared the dock of the crates that had been left in the open when Simon had changed their orders. It took several minutes and by the time the last crate on the platform had been picked up, the dock supervisor had returned followed by a half a dozen men.

Simon didn't even bother to speak to the supervisor; he just strode past him and faced the group. "See how all the others are doing it? Four men to each crate, no less than that. Anyone caught trying to do anything else will answer to me." Each man nodded. "And no rush." He glanced at the supervisor, giving him a glare. "Just use caution; their cargo is highly valuable."

They all headed off to join the men who were currently working. Simon walked over to the supervisor, John was his name, he finally remembered. Simon had so many people working for him now that he couldn't even remember their names unless they did something significant to make themselves stand out. John was apparently not one of them.

"John." Simon crooned as he approached the dock supervisor.

"Simon, I'm sorry about all of this. I must have gotten your orders slightly confused. I just wanted to make sure all was going to go quickly and smoothly."

Simon nodded briefly. "I appreciate your efforts, John. But that's not an excuse. You know exactly how heavy those crates are and how delicate they are. I surmised that you would have enough foresight to plan better."

"I'm terribly sorry Simon. It won't happen again." John replied.

"I believe you are correct in that regard." was all Simon said.

They stood nearby each other watching the rest of the crates being loaded. When the last was on the truck, one of the men turned and closed the doors on the trailer. Simon vaguely recognized him as a new recruit from a day or two or ago, but otherwise, Simon paid neither him nor any of the others any mind. They all headed back indoors after Simon waved them all back towards the building.

Trask came up from behind Simon and John, trailed by two large Asian men who looked so much alike that they could have been mistaken for twins. Simon turned to smile slightly at his three head henchmen. Trask wasn't always the sharpest of men, but that's what made him a perfect right hand-man. Enough smarts to keep things moving in an operation, but not enough that he had any real clue as to what was going on beneath his very nose. The fact that he followed Simon's orders without fault was just an added bonus.

"Boss." Trask said as he came up to Simon. "I figured it would be about time to get the load sent off. Is it ready to go yet?"

"As always, Trask, you have impeccable timing. Yes, the cargo has all been loaded and is ready for delivery. I assume that Chan and Brak are going with you?" The two Asian men nodded almost imperceptibly just once. They never said anything; they just did as they were told so long as they were paid on time. They never seemed to have much of an interest in the business end of the operation, outside of the occasional dirty job that had to be done in this kind of work. Simon was about to give them another opportunity.

"Trask. I'd like for John to accompany you on the delivery. Show him just how much we appreciate all his hard work." Simon knew that Trask would catch his meaning. He noticed that Brak and Chan exchanged a quick glance with each other, smiling ever so slightly.

"Right, Simon. No problem." He extended an arm in John's direction. "Come on. I'll show you how we take care of the delivery end of our operations." John started to head for the truck when Trask got his attention again. "Oh wait." He reached out and took the clipboard that John was holding from him, absently handing it towards Simon. "You won't need that. We don't like to carry records around with us, you know?"

John just nodded as Chan and Brak flanked him on either side, herding him off towards the truck. Trask glanced briefly at Simon. "Don't worry, boss. We'll have this little matter cleared right up for you."

Simon smiled slightly. "You're such an efficient employee, Trask. Perhaps I should give you an extra bonus."

Trask laughed and headed off after the two henchmen and their colleague.

------------------------

"Guys, check this out." Bridge had gotten Z and Syd to join him in his lab room. It was always cluttered with various parts and tools; Syd had once commented that it looked like a graveyard for electronics. Bridge's toaster making computer, his pride and joy, dominated an entire desk. Syd was afraid that he had called them here to unveil another twisted contraption of technology that ultimately wouldn't have any useful purpose except perhaps to amuse someone briefly. Syd would never tell him that of course; everyone had to have their odd hobbies here and there, and besides, who was she to criticize having a stuffed animal collection of her own? She stopped daydreaming to pull her attention back to what Bridge was telling them.

"So how exactly is thing supposed to work?" Z asked.

"Well, it picks up on a passive signal that all our morphers put out, but Boom narrowed the frequency reception to pick up only on the one that comes from Sky's."

"And he did that how exactly?" Syd seemed skeptical.

"Boom put together this transceiver with parts he had left over from the space radio, and he had to install…"

"That's okay, Bridge." Z spoke up. "I'm sure that Syd and I don't need to know all the specifics," she shot a quick glance at Syd, who shrugged "just that it will work. It will right?"

"It should. I mean without Sky's morpher around, we couldn't exactly determine it for certain, but we got some close signal approximations from the computer database, based on previous transmissions from Sky." Bridge finished proudly.

"I suppose it's better than nothing." Z stated.

"Are you sure about this, Bridge?" Syd spoke up. "I mean, I don't want to go charging into Sky's investigation and have it wind up being nothing and us blowing his cover for no good reason. Sky would be really angry at all of us."

Bridge grew solemn for a moment. "I'm positive, Syd. I may not be sure about a lot of things that have gone on recently, but believe me, of this I'm certain. If we don't do something, we could lose Sky forever."

Syd nodded. "Alright. When do we go?"

------------------------

Treelatix waited impatiently at the pickup location somewhere on the outskirts of the city. His contact had promised him half of his goods as soon as production was complete. It took time to manufacture the material that Treelatix required. He wished it wouldn't take so long, but he could understand, he wanted only the highest quality product, after all. His contact had told him that he could make more in less time, but it would cut down on the effectiveness of the material and therefore Treelatix would need more of it. So Treelatix waited as patiently as he could, using his spare time to further plan his revenge over S.P.D.

He heard a low rumbling noise approaching from the distance and turned to see a large truck pull up the dusty road. It stopped several feet away and three men got out. The two larger men kept back, standing beside the truck, arms crossed, while the third approached.

"Treelatix." He greeted when he was within an arm's reach. "Simon sends his regards. I hope we weren't too late for you. We had a small business matter to attend to along the way."

"Your business does not concern me, only as long as I get what I need."

"Of course. Sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused you. We have what you've come for." The small man responded.

"Good. I'll take it now." Treelatix headed towards the parked vehicle. The small man walked quickly to keep up with the taller troobian.

"How do you plan to get it all to your ship?" he man asked.

Treelatix held up a small device. "With this."

"I see." The man fell silent. He motioned to the other two to open the doors on the trailer and they had it fully open by the time he and Treelatix reached the rear of the truck.

Treelatix saw roughly a dozen crates lined inside. "Excellent." He jumped inside and placed his transporter on top of one of the crates. He pulled out several smaller devices, placing one on each crate. He returned to the first device, keyed a sequence on the pad, then jumped back out of the truck. Seconds later, all the crates in the back of truck vanished from view.

The two large men didn't seem to react, but the smallest of three stood there with his mouth agape.

"Wow! What was that thing? How did you do that?" he asked.

"Teleportation technology. You do not have such things on your world?" Treelatix replied.

"I don't know, I'm not into that kind of business. This is what I do and that's good enough for me." he said.

"Then our business is concluded for now. Until next time." Treelatix stated.

"Until next time. Simon will contact you when the rest is ready. I look forward to seeing you then."

Treelatix snorted slightly. "Whatever. I'll see you at our next appointment, Trask." He keyed his own personal teleporter and vanished from sight.

Trask turned to Chan and Brak. "Close it up and let's go."

------------------------

Sky couldn't wait to get a moment away by himself. Unfortunately in this place, that was proving extremely difficult to do. He kept running into people and several times he'd been diverted to do some task or other. It had been almost an hour since he'd volunteered to move cargo. The harried-looking man who had run in seemed desperate to grab anyone that was nearby and he hadn't batted an eyelid when Sky stepped forward; despite the fact that he was still on 'probation' and wasn't supposed to be doing anything besides guard duty. When they all had gotten outside, Sky had seen several men already moving boxes, with Simon standing nearby keeping a close watch on them all. Sky had just joined in with three others at the nearest crate and for the next half an hour helped carry boxes. Heavy boxes as it turned out. No wonder they had four guys on each one, he thought.

Now he was just waiting for the opportunity to slip off to see if his morpher had picked up anything significant. He had managed to fall to the back of the group as they made their way to the loading dock, and had set his morpher to silent scan mode. Nobody seemed to notice, and if they had, it would have only looked like Sky was fiddling with a cell phone or some such. There were times since Sky had started this mission that he wished he had some way to disguise his morpher; it rather stood out. He would suggest the idea to Kat when he got back, having the ability to make a morpher appear as something else would be extremely handy on future undercover missions.

He reached the duty assignment station which was nothing more than a tiny cramped office with one desk and a chair. One slightly older man sat behind the desk, several lists laid out on the desk surface in front of him. He looked up briefly at Sky when he entered, grunted and turned back to his pages. Sky checked the schedule list and saw that he was off for a few hours until an evening guard shift. Yes, he thought, just what I need right now. He turned slightly towards the old man. "Excuse me?"

The old man grumbled and looked up; not appearing to like being disturbed. "What is it?" he rattled. "Not happy with your schedule? Tough."

"No, its fine, thanks. I was just curious if I could go out for a bit. I'm still new here and not sure what all we're allowed to do or not."

The old man waved an arm at him absently. "Sure you can go out. Just don't go too far. Boss doesn't like for you newbies to get too far out of sight."

"Not a problem. Thanks." Sky told him. He slipped out of the door just as two other men entered, arguing over something. "No, that's your time, I told you that I…"

Sky didn't hear the rest of the argument as he headed down the hallway; looking for the door out. If I can remember where the hell it is, he thought. This place is a maze.

After several minutes, he crossed back into the corridor that led out. He had finally realized why he hadn't encountered anyone when he had first slipped in. Simon purposely kept the first quarter or so of the building empty and devoid of activity in order to make it appear as if it were an empty warehouse. I suppose it could work, he thought, anyone first coming in wouldn't ever guess that there was an entire operation going on behind these walls. Though it was left empty, it was not left unwatched. That's why Mandy had turned up after him. Either she or someone else had seen him walking around and she had come to investigate. Some part of him rather wondered why she had let him in. Their orders as he'd been told was to discreetly but firmly direct people who wandered nearby to somewhere else, and if they showed resistance, then shoot. Simon didn't want to draw attention to the place, but the order was that if people didn't get the hint, you were to take them out. Fortunately, that hadn't happened since Sky had started; it would kill him to see an innocent person get hurt by these thugs.

It still made him wonder why Mandy would blatantly ignore that order. From everything he'd been told, by all rights she should have just shot him on sight. But for some reason she didn't. It rather confirmed his suspicions that she wasn't the hardened criminal she wanted him to believe she was. Certainly she was a perplexing individual. Perhaps he'd get a chance to talk to her again and try to figure out what she really was about.

He finally came to the exit, and opened the door to be immediately greeted by the muzzle of a gun. He flung both hands up in the air. "Whoa. Take it easy, it's just me."

"Nate." The other guy holstered his weapon; Jake was his name Sky thought. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? You shouldn't have come out this way. There's other exits we use."

"Sorry, I didn't know. This is the first chance I've gotten since I started to get out for a bit and it seems no one bothered to tell me the proper protocols on that."

Jake laughed. "Yah, they do that a bit around here, don't they? Especially with you new guys. It's alright, they got me pretty good when I first started too."

Sky chuckled slightly. "Well, thanks for not shooting me."

"Don't mention it. Listen, I'll let you back in this way when you're done because trying to tell you where to find the other doors will only get you lost. I'll show you where they are and how to get to them some time later on. Alright?"

"Sure, thanks." Sky started to head off. "See you in a bit."

Jake waved once and returned to his position, sitting on top of trash container. If they don't ever use that door, why not just lock it and be done with it? Sky thought. This place sure does have some weird things going on. He continued walking and turned onto the main street that was bustling and crowded with people. Sky thought that for being a shady neighborhood, the place seemed pretty busy. Though Sky was certain that not every piece of business that took place around here was on the up and up. He passed a few food vendors, whose food stuffs didn't smell particularly appetizing though several people were buying. Yuck, and I thought the stuff in the mess hall was bad, Sky thought to himself. He continued walking, looking at a few things here and there, pretending to seem interested in some of the wares that the vendors were hawking. He had caught the old man's comment about the new people not getting 'too far out of sight'. Which told Sky that they probably kept a watch on everyone on this street. Damn, he thought, that's going to make it harder to find a quiet place. He sighed; he had to think of something. He looked around and spied a small restaurant on the corner. He headed in its direction.

Sky entered the cramped, dingy restaurant that smelled of grease mingled with sweat. If I had been hungry beforehand, I wouldn't be anymore, he thought upon entering. A waitress came up to him.

"What will you have?" the woman asked. She was probably about in her mid-forties, had her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail and was chewing on some gum.

"Um, I don't know yet." Sky told her. "Could I use your bathroom first?"

She rolled her eyes briefly. "Why is it that everyone who comes in here wants to use the bathroom all the time? You'd think we were a damn public restroom, not a restaurant."

Sky didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry. It's just that…"

"Don't worry about it, son. I didn't mean to take it out on you, it's just been one of those days, you know?"

Sky chuckled slightly. "I know what you mean."

The waitress pointed. "Down that hall there, in the back, third door on your left."

"Thanks." Sky replied and headed off the way she had indicated.

The back area of the restaurant wasn't much of an improvement over the front, but Sky figured that if it got him a few minutes away from any peering eyes, it would be a veritable haven.

He finally found the door he was looking for. He knocked briefly, and when he got no response he opened the door and stepped in. I'm really glad I don't have to use the bathroom either, was the first thing that popped into Sky's mind. But he ignored his surroundings, locked the door behind himself and pulled out his morpher. He brought up the scan results.

"Yes." he said quietly to himself. His morpher had picked up on some very strong energy signals, ones which matched the substance he and Syd had found in the last warehouse. "These readings are off the chart!" he whispered to himself. I have to get this to Kat, he thought. Here comes the real challenge, trying to get her the information without giving himself away at the same time. "Now I wish there was a way our morphers didn't put out quite so much energy." He had known when he started this mission that anything other than passive use would likely be detected. He hadn't seen any high tech equipment around in the areas he'd been in, but that didn't mean that they weren't there. Sky was sure that this place was either where the stuff was made directly or it was refined here in one way or another. He still needed to find out what its purpose was and what it was going to be used for.

It was possible that Treelatix had stolen the material from them in the first place, but the more Sky found out about Simon and his operation, it was more likely that he was directly providing the material to Treelatix. Damn, he thought, I really need to get this information to the others, but I have no way to do that without getting myself caught in the process. He was suddenly struck with an idea. Trask; he goes out often enough, in fact that's why Jake was covering the door just now, Trask is out running an errand for Simon. If I can get in good with Trask, I might be able to convince him to drag me along sometime. That's the likeliest chance I'm going to get.

He placed his morpher back into his inside jacket pocket and left the bathroom. He got back out to the restaurant front, squinting as the dark of the bathroom made the front of the building seem ten times brighter. He spied the waitress talking with someone near the door. Someone familiar.

He approached them quietly; the waitress spied him across the top of the other woman's shoulder. "Are you ready to order something now?" The other woman turned around to see who the waitress was talking to.

"Nate! I didn't know you came in here too." Mandy stated.

"Not really, this is the first time I've gotten a break away." he told her.

"Yah, it can be hard to find the time to slip out, can't it?" she replied.

He simply nodded at her. Mandy turned back to the waitress. "I'd really love to stay for a bit, I'm sure you know how it is, always on the go."

"I understand. Things can get pretty hectic sometimes." She quickly looked over both Sky and Mandy, an odd look coming into her eyes. "I wish you young people wouldn't work at that place, you know. It's such a same to see bright young folks working for the likes of that crowd. I hope you both get out while you still can." Without saying another word, she turned on her heel, and went into the kitchen.

Sky took a few steps forward to stand next to Mandy. "What on earth did she mean by that?" He glanced over at Mandy.

She shrugged. "No idea. Probably just some crazy woman talk. Doesn't matter. C'mon let's go back." She started for the door. Sky didn't know what to say, so he just followed her.

"Hey." They heard someone call from behind them. They both stopped right in front of the door and turned back to face the waitress.

"Next time you both pop in here to use my bathrooms, I expect you to actually order something, you understand." She laughed and walked off, carrying plates of food.

Sky quickly glanced at Mandy, who had an incredulous look on her face. "God damn…" she muttered under her breath. Sky figured that the waitress had just let something slip about Mandy that she had rather not anyone know about.

"Mandy? You okay?"

She shook herself slightly. "Yah, I'm fine. Like I said, crazy old woman." She pushed the door open and strode out into the street.

Somehow, I don't think she's as crazy as you want me to believe, Sky thought.

------------------------

Bridge stood and fidgeted impatiently as he, Z and Syd evaluated a group of cadets' training exercise.

Z nudged him slightly. "Chill out, would you? I know you're eager to get out of here, but we are supposed to be working right now." she whispered.

"I know." he whispered back. "I can't help it, though."

Z didn't say anything else and focused her attention back on the cadets. They defeated the last of the simulated krybots and stood at attention, waiting to hear their report on their performance.

Syd stepped forward. "Not too bad. I can see some room for improvement, however. You all need to work more as a team rather than on an individual basis." She pointed to a tall sandy blonde haired boy. "You got to far away from your team members, allowing yourself to be cut off by two krybots. If it hadn't been for your teammate here" she pointed at a short brown-haired girl "you could have been in a lot of trouble. Sticking near each other not only puts you in a better spot to assist your fellow cadets, but also provides cover for yourself if trouble arises."

The blonde boy spoke up. "But ma'am, sometimes that's not always possible, is it? I mean, haven't you all been in situations where you were separated?"

Z spoke up. "True. But we also try to keep that from happening if it can be avoided."

"We also have a bit more experience than you guys do." Bridge added.

Z and Syd glanced at him briefly, both frowning slightly. Z continued "Bridge may be right, but experienced or not, you still have to be aware of where your teammates are at all times. The more you work together, the better you'll become as a team. Keep up the good work."

The cadets clearly took that as a dismissal and they filed out of the simulation room.

Syd turned to Bridge. "What the hell was that? You should know better that experience doesn't always count for everything. Look at A-squad, they had a lot more training than we did, but we were able to beat them because we worked better as a team than they did, not because we had experience."

"Sorry." Bridge said. "I'm just distracted."

"Well, come on then." Z responded. "Let's turn in our reports and then we can get going. Do you have any idea of where we even need to start?"

"I have a couple." Bridge replied.

------------------------

Sky had followed Mandy back into the building through one of the other entrances that Jake must have been referring to. He was right, Sky thought, if I had tried to find this door on my own, I'd have been completely lost. Mandy had led him through a couple of alleyways, cut through an empty building and had even walked through a busy shop once. They apparently didn't want anyone to stumble accidentally into their operation. That's probably why they left that other door open, he surmised. As it was the only visible access from the outside, anyone coming that way would automatically be pegged as purposely looking for the operation. It made it easier for Simon's men to spot cops and the like. Such as himself. The more he thought about how Mandy just let him walk right into the operation, the more perplexed he got. Why in the world would she do such a thing? he wondered yet again. Her line of having someone to watch her back wasn't really a viable excuse. There had to be some other reason and Sky had better find out what it was and quickly, or else more than his mission could be compromised.

"So, Mandy…" Sky started off as they threaded their way through another corridor, headed back to the core of operations. "Do you get out much when not on duty? That waitress seemed like she sort of knew you."

Mandy shrugged indifferently. "I've only been in there a few times and have talked to her just in passing. You'd think she was some kind of mother hen or something the way she carries on." She turned slightly to look at Sky. "Don't think anything of her. She does that to just about any of us that happen to wander in there."

"Oh, I see." Sky said, though he doubted many of the others here actually bothered to talk to waitresses.

They had finally reached the main corridor and Sky saw a few others wandering around. He glanced up at a catwalk that was obscured by the shadows; barely able to make out the two men that were on guard there. He waved vaguely at them, one of them nodded back. He turned his attention back to Mandy. "So where to next?"

She turned to him. "Don't you have something to do?"

"Not yet. I'm off until an evening shift." he replied. Sky took the plunge. "I was hoping I could talk to you a bit more. I was kind of tired last night and didn't really have a chance to carry on our conversation like I wanted to."

"Hmmm." she thought for a moment. "I have to run and see Simon for a few, but after that, I think I'm free. How about you meet me at my room in, say, 15 minutes or so?"

"Sounds good to me." Sky replied. "I'll see you then." He watched as Mandy walked off, leaving him standing in the corridor. This will also give me the opportunity to better check out that door lock of yours, too, he thought.

------------------------

Bridge had Syd pull the jeep to a stop on the outskirts of one of the less respectable neighborhoods. He checked the transmitter, it chirped almost imperceptibly. "This has got to be it." He looked at both of the girls. "Boom said that the signal will get stronger the closer we get to him."

Syd looked doubtful at their surroundings. "I don't know about us going in like this, Bridge. If I knew you'd have us harrowing about shady areas, I would have insisted that we all change into something other than our uniforms. We're going to stand out this way."

Z nodded. "I agree. We should have taken the time to disguise ourselves."

"I'm sorry guys, but I didn't think we would have the time." He glanced nervously at both of them. "My feelings are just getting worse by the minute; if we take too long, we may be too late." Bridge seemed visibly distraught.

Z placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. It just would have been nice if we could have been a bit more prepared." Syd nodded her agreement.

Z stood up. "Let's go then. Bridge, lead on."

------------------------

Sky stood outside of Mandy's door, glancing around to make sure that there was no-one nearby to see him. He quickly knelt in front of the door handle and peered at intently. He spied a few small buttons on its underside. Somehow, I don't think that's part of the original door, he thought to himself. He guessed that it served as a way to disable a security mechanism. What that was, he had no idea. Interesting. Why would Mandy want a specific security in place for her room if she was just another delinquent crook? he wondered. Paranoid, perhaps? No, it had to be something more than that. Perhaps he'd be able to find out during the course of their conversation. He heard footsteps echoing faintly in the distance and quickly got back up to his feet; leaning nonchalantly against the opposite wall from the door. He smiled slightly as Mandy came into view.

"Impatient are we?" she commented while she approached.

Sky shrugged. "Like I said, nothing better to do at the moment."

Sure, she thought to herself, and I'm sure I saw you checking out my door for no good reason either. She stepped in front of him and keyed the sequence on the door handle that would enable her interference apparatus. She had no idea what Nate thought her setup was for, but she bet that he didn't figure that instead of preventing people from entering while she was out that it actually interrupted the complex's surveillance, making her room free of spying when she wanted it to be. She opened the door once she had enabled the privacy net.

She glanced over her shoulder at him. "Come on in." She didn't know what he wanted to talk to her about, but she intended to unravel him a bit further.

Sky walked in and chose to sit in one of the two chairs at random while Mandy closed the door. "So what is it you wanted to talk to me about, Nate?" she asked.

"Just want to get to know you a bit better, that's all. You're not like anyone I've met before in this line of work."

"That goes for you as well." she replied as she took the other seat. "I think there's a lot about yourself that you haven't told me." She leaned forward towards him. "The question is, how much would you be willing to really tell me?"

This is _**not**_ how I wanted this conversation to go, Sky thought frantically. Once again, Mandy had managed to turn the tables on him, this time before he could even get anywhere with his own questions. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, he contemplated anxiously.

"I have no idea what you mean." Sky started off.

"Bullshit. I know you're not who you claim to be. I don't know who you really are, but I'm certain that you're not some kind of criminal. Why are you here? What is it that you're really after? And don't try to give me that yarn about having a sick sister either, you've tried that once before, and it didn't work."

Sky was stunned. She had pretty much just come out and told him in no uncertain terms that she'd already seen beneath his cover. He wondered if she guessed what he really was. But he didn't want to stick around to find out. All of his instincts were screaming at him to get out _**now**_, while he still could. He was neck deep in hot water and on the verge of drowning in it.

He stood up quickly. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about." he told her dismissively. "I think you're just too suspicious of other people to maintain any kind of friendship with anybody." With that, he turned on his heel and strode towards her door.

"Nate, wait!" she called after him; but it was too late, Sky slammed the door shut hard behind him and hurried down the hall, looking for the nearest way out.

He turned a corner and practically ran right into Trask.

"Nate." Trask said cheerfully. "I was just looking for you." he said as two large men approached Sky from behind. "Simon wants to talk with you."

Oh crap; it was the only thought that had time to flitter through Sky's mind before he was plunged into darkness by a blow from behind.

------------------------

The pink, yellow and blue rangers made their way across the roof of yet another building. Because they hadn't stopped to change out of their S.P.D. uniforms before coming down here, Z had suggested that they get around by using the building rooftops. At least it kept them out of the way of other people.

Bridge was staring intently at the signal transceiver when he stopped dead in his tracks; jerking his head up suddenly.

"Bridge?" Z called. "Is everything okay?"

He shook his head frantically. "No. It's just gotten worse." He faced the other two rangers. "We have to go now!" Without waiting for either of them, he pulled out his morpher.

"S.P.D. Emergency!" he yelled.

As soon as he was morphed, he took off running in a direction that only he could follow.

Syd and Z quickly morphed and hurried to catch up with Bridge as he jumped from one roof top to another.

------------------------

Sky was pushed down a hallway, both hands tied behind his back. His escort came to a door at the end of the hall and one of the three men opened it. He was forcefully shoved forward through the door, losing his footing and coming down hard on his knees. He heard a rough chuckle from behind him. He glared up as Trask came around him, a vicious grin on his face. It figures, Sky thought.

"That will be enough, Trask. I think it's time we let our guest have a seat." Two sets of hands grabbed him from behind, hauled him to his feet and chucked him into a chair. Sky looked up just in time to see Simon Withers spin around in his chair to face Sky. He sat behind an old worn desk, one that had a lot of score marks on the top of its surface. A lot of those marks had to have been made by sharp items. There were also numerous dark spots, which at first Sky had thought were just the coloring of the wood. He realized with some bit of trepidation that they were old blood stains. Glancing around, he noted similar stains on the floor and even a few on one of the walls.

Everyone in the room was focused on Sky, though for different reasons. Trask he wasn't sure about, he couldn't begin to guess if Trask had ever been suspicious of him; the other two men were just waiting for another chance to rough him up a bit more. Sky didn't ever actually catch their names; they never spoke to anyone anyway. It was the other two that Sky was most concerned with; Simon and Mandy. He was a bit surprised to see her. Despite her current profession, Sky had sensed that she had a good heart and he suspected that deep down, Mandy was a much better person than she normally let on. After their conversations together, he had thought that perhaps Mandy stood a chance to leave this life behind her. He looked directly at Simon.

"What the hell is all this? Why did you have your goons knock me out and truss me up? What's going on here?" Sky asked.

Simon leaned forward slightly in his chair. "I'm sure you want to know everything don't you? That is why you're here after all, aren't you? To gather information about my little operation and report back to your superiors?" Simon narrowed his gaze. "Who do you work for?"

Sky leaned back in the chair, fixing Simon with an icy stare, saying nothing.

"I see. So it's going to be the hard way, is it? I really wish you'd reconsider. I so hate to see bad things happen to good people." Simon got up from his chair and walked around the desk, stopping in front of Sky. "If you tell me what I want to know, I may decide to take it easy on you."

"Go to hell." Sky responded.

The fist seemed to come from out of nowhere. It struck Sky across the left side of his face, splitting his lip. Sky looked back up to see Trask grinning like a madman at Simon's side. Sky spat out a bit of blood and continued to stare at Simon, sitting in stony silence.

Simon let out a huge sigh. "You know, normally I like to let Trask, Chan and Brak have their fun, but I'm afraid I'm terribly short on time." He made a gesture at the other two that were standing behind Sky. They grabbed him and hauled him up out of the chair.

"Let's take a walk outside, shall we?" Simon spoke. He headed out the door and down the hall; the two guards dragged Sky along in Simon's wake while Trask and Mandy trailed after them all. They turned several corners and passed down a few more corridors before Simon finally came to a door; opening it to reveal the outside. It appeared to be another loading dock area of the building. This one wasn't paved at all, just packed dirt and a few patches of mud here and there. Simon stopped when he had gone several feet away from the building. He turned back and looked at Sky and the guards, gesturing to them slightly with a jerk of his head.

They stopped and let go of Sky, puzzling him. What is he up to now? he thought.

"Mandy, my dear." Simon spoke. "Perhaps you would do me the honor of escorting our guest the rest of the way?" Sky turned his head and glanced back at her. She met his gaze briefly.

"Of course, Simon. I'd be more than happy too." she replied.

Mandy quickly stepped up next to Sky and grabbed a hold of the rope that tied his hands. She shoved him forward. "Move it!"

Sky started walking slowly; as they drew away from Simon and the others he spoke quietly to her. "Mandy, don't do this. I know you're a better person than you let on. Don't let them turn you into a monster."

"You don't know the first thing about me. You have no idea what I'm really like. I'm sorry, but I have no choice." She stopped and spun him around so that he was facing her. She looked long and hard into his eyes. "You're just going to have to trust me on this." Sky shook his head no at her as he realized what she had just said. What exactly did she mean by that? he wondered.

She turned back around to face the others. "All ready, Simon."

"Thank you, Mandy." Simon turned to Trask and the other two guards. "Kill them both."

"Oh shit." Sky heard Mandy mutter under her breath.

Sky watched as Mandy got into a defensive stance directly in front of him, her right hand going for something underneath her jacket while her left arm started to snake around Sky's waist. "Move when I tell you to, not one second before, you got it?" she whispered at him.

"I got it." he replied.

Trask and the other two men aimed their pistols at Sky and Mandy; Sky could feel her grip tighten on him. "Get ready...wait for it..." she spoke quietly. A sudden blast of energy hit the ground directly in front of Trask and the others. Simon quickly wheeled away, shielding his face from the flying dirt and mud.

"Hold it right there! You're all under arrest!" a voice cried out.

Sky looked to see the rangers come sprinting in from different directions. Bridge stopped and faced Simon and his men.

"You're accused of manufacturing dangerous goods, conspiracy to commit treason against Earth and murder. Judgment!" The Blue Ranger spoke as he aimed his morpher at the four assembled men.

"That's where you're wrong, my friend. It's not time for me to be judged just yet." Simon pulled out a teleporter and before any of the rangers could stop him, he vanished.

Trask stood with his mouth hanging open; he couldn't believe that Simon had just abandoned him. "Boss? Boss!" he yelled out.

"Guess he's not your boss anymore." Z spoke up. The other two guards looked at each other briefly and pulled out their own teleporters; they too were gone in an instant.

"Hey! Wait! That's no fair!" Trask whined.

"Looks like you'll be coming with us after all." Bridge told him.

While Bridge and Z had been facing down the others, Syd had a fix on Mandy. She didn't know exactly what was going on here; this woman was one of these criminals, but it seemed that she had been on the verge of trying to save Sky when they arrived.

"You okay, Sky?" Syd asked.

"Yeah, just get me untied would you?" he replied.

Mandy turned back around to face him. "Sky?" she asked, in disbelief. She shook her head slightly. "I knew there was something more to you. I should have known. Who exactly are you?"

Syd powered down and walked around behind Sky, beginning to untie him, and although he didn't seem to be too concerned about the woman, Syd still kept a watchful eye on her.

"My real name is Sky Tate. I'm S.P.D.; Red Ranger." He spoke to Mandy as Syd finally got the ropes off his wrists. He glanced briefly back at the pink ranger. "Thanks."

By this time Bridge and Z had also powered down and hauled a handcuffed Trask between them over to where the others were. Trask grimaced.

"So what's going on? You alright, Sky?" Z asked.

"I'm fine. I was just telling Mandy here who I really am." He gestured in her direction as looked down at the shorter woman.

Mandy shook her head again and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "Oh man, I'm so gonna get busted over this one." Sky gave her a puzzled look. She sighed and reached for her back pocket; all three rangers instinctively aimed their weapons at her.

She put up a hand. "It's cool, just getting my id." She pulled out a black bi-fold wallet and opened it so they could all see. "Special Agent Hailey Summers, FBI."

"I knew it! I knew it all along!" Trask barked. "You're a cop, too!" He laughed.

"Shut up!" all five of them yelled at the same time.

"Now, since we all know who we really are, let's say we start back at the beginning." Hailey said.

_**To be continued**_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, no copyright infringement is intended._


	8. Chapter 8: Secrets

**Secrets**

"Well, the only information we had was that the company was producing some new type of material. Just normal operations. This stuff," Hailey pointed at a small sample of the transparent substance that lay on the command console, "is just a by-product of that process. The company had no use for it, so they sold it all off, thinking that it wouldn't be useful for anything." Hailey looked around at the S.P.D. personnel that were assembled in the command center.

She had agreed to return to the S.P.D. headquarters with the Rangers after they had left the warehouse site. With Trask already in custody and Simon gone, there wasn't much else for her to do other than to call in the squads so they could arrest whoever was left in the building

"Then whoever bought it must have realized its potential. The question is; who bought it? And what are they planning to do with it?" Commander Cruger spoke. He turned towards Hailey, "Do you think that this Simon Withers was the person who bought it directly from the company or did he get it from another source?"

"Based on the evidence I was able to gather, I'd say that Simon bought it from someone else. They had some kind of refining equipment set up that they ran this stuff through. I'm not sure what the process entails though, I never got that far in."

"And you have no idea what they were doing with the material when they were done with it?" Kat asked.

Hailey shook her head as Sky spoke up. "Whatever it is, I think they might be using it sooner than we expect." Cruger and the others all looked at him. "I was there when they loaded a whole lot of it onto the back of a truck."

"Where did they take it?" Syd wondered.

"No clue, I didn't get much further than that," Sky replied.

Cruger shook his head slightly, "All this work; for nothing. We're right back where we stared from."

"That's not completely true," Hailey told him, "We have Trask. He was Simon's right-hand man. He's got to know something. I'd be willing to bet…" she was cut off by a loud voice coming from behind them.

"Agent Summers!" She cringed slightly as she recognized the voice of her commanding officer, Captain Bradley. _He doesn't sound too happy_, she thought to herself.

She turned around, coming to attention as she faced him. "Sir…"

He pointed a finger in her direction. "Not another word. That's classified information you're divulging there."

Cruger raised his head up further to stare at the newcomer. He remembered the one occasion where he had encountered this man before. He didn't like him then, and he doubted he would like him now.

"Classified?" Cruger asked, "For whom?"

"For anyone I want it to be," Bradley replied. He stepped up to the command console, glaring at Hailey as he passed her. She deftly backed away from him.

"We have a serious situation here, the safety of Earth is at stake…" Cruger began.

"Bull. This is nothing more than some two-bit operation looking to take a cut. It should have been a simple op to conduct, but apparently some people aren't even capable of that." He glared at Hailey again, who stared defiantly at him in return.

"I disagree," Cruger spoke, reclaiming the Captain's attention, "I think this operation was working deeper with whoever has this material now. We need to find out…"

"You don't need to find out anything," Bradley stated. Cruger gave a low growl at being interrupted yet again. "This is my jurisdiction; my operation. I'll handle it how I see fit."

"I'd think it would be best if we worked together…" Bridge started.

Bradley shot him a stern look. "Was I even talking to you?" he asked harshly.

Bridge looked startled and shook his head slightly.

"Then shut up." Bradley turned back towards Cruger, but didn't get any further as this time the Sirian growled loudly enough that everyone in the room could clearly hear it.

"That's enough! I don't care who you are, you are not going to come into _my_ command center and berate my personnel!" He leaned towards Bradley over the top of the console. "You got that?"

Bradley backed a step away. "Yah, I got it. I assume this discussion is over then?"

"It is," Cruger replied, "Get out."

"Fine." Bradley turned around and faced Hailey, glowering at her. "You're coming with me. Now," he turned and headed for the door.

Hailey groaned slightly. _Oh crap, I'm really for it this time_, she thought. She glanced back at the others in the room. Sky in particular was looking at her oddly. She shrugged slightly and rolled her eyes as she turned on her heel to follow Bradley out.

As soon as they had left, Sky turned to Cruger. "Sir…"

The commander raised up a hand. "I know, Sky." He sighed and looked over each of the Rangers. "I've had to work with Captain Bradley once before. He does seem to know what he's doing, though I can't say that I agree with his methods. Or his attitude," he shifted his gaze to the Blue Ranger, "I'm sorry about that Bridge; he had no right to speak to you that way."

Bridge just shrugged. "It's alright. Not your fault."

"Even so," Cruger shook his head, "I don't believe that this is just a simple criminal gang working to make money. My instinct tells me otherwise. I want you all to question the prisoner, see what he knows. Then report back to me."

"Yes, Sir!" the Rangers spoke and saluted in unison, then headed out of the command center.

"That Bradley guy seems like a real hard ass, if you don't mind me saying so," Syd piped up as they reached the doorway.

"Yah, and I thought Silverback was bad," Z added.

"Hey, what about Agent Summers? What do you think will happen to her?" Bridge asked.

Sky shrugged as the door slid open, started to turn around to face his friends when they all heard an echoing voice come from down the hall.

"Enough! I don't want to hear anymore!" they heard someone yell.

"What the hell?" Sky wondered aloud.

The Rangers walked in the direction in which they heard the shouting come from. Rounding a corner, they spotted Hailey sitting slumped against the wall, her head resting on her knees.

Sky stepped forward. "Hey, you alright?"

She pulled her head up and looked at the Red Ranger, noting the others behind him. "Yah, I'm fine." As she started to stand, Sky leaned down and offered her a hand up.

She took it and allowed herself to be hauled to her feet. "Outside of just having my ass handed to me on a silver platter, that is. With a suspension to boot."

Syd cringed as Z spoke up. "That sucks."

"Eh, no big surprise really," Hailey replied, "Most agents aren't stupid enough to stick around Bradley long enough for that to happen. They usually bail first," she shrugged slightly, "Guess that must make me stupid."

Sky shook his head at her. "Hailey, I'm so sorry I got you into this mess. I…"

"Not your doing," she cut him off, "I was lax and wasn't paying enough attention to what was going on around me. Got too distracted." She glanced briefly at Sky before she continued.

"Well, I should get going before I end up in hot water any further. I may be on suspension, but I still have a report to write," she waved at the Rangers as she began to walk off, "See you guys around sometime." She turned and kept going.

Sky looked after her for a bit; despite her words, he knew that it was his fault that her operation fell apart. _Great work, Sky,_ he thought to himself, _Why don't you see whose career you can screw up next?_

Syd peered at Sky, noticing how he looked at the departing back of Agent Summers. _Hmm, I wonder what that's all about?_ she wondered. She glanced briefly at Z and Bridge. They didn't seem to notice Sky or his expression; they were too busy trying not to look at each other.

_Oh great_, Syd thought, _Everyone's getting emotionally involved with each other and not one of them has a clue. Geesh, do I always have to play the matchmaker or what?_

She nudged Sky with her elbow at the same time she cleared her throat in order to snag the attention of the Blue and Yellow Rangers. They all looked at her blankly.

"I believe we have a prisoner to interrogate?" she asked sweetly.

"Oh yeah," Bridge said.

"Yep," Z replied.

"Right. Let's go," Sky stated as he turned and headed back down the corridor. Z and Bridge trailed in his wake, pretending to be interested in the walls.

Syd followed after all of them, shaking her head in amusement. _For a bunch of smart people, they can sure be as dumb as rocks sometimes_, she chuckled to herself.

------------------------

Treelatix was angrily pacing the length of his command deck. He'd lost the opportunity to get the rest of the material he needed when S.P.D. had broken up Simon's operation. He growled angrily.

"Treelatix," Simon tried to soothe the alien, "This is a minor setback only, I assure you. I have already contacted my supplier and told them that we need an alternate location in which to continue our work. It's only a slight delay."

The troobian whirled to face the human. "Any delay is unacceptable. I've been waiting long enough. This is the very last time that S.P.D. will interfere with my plans!"

"I couldn't agree more," Simon purred, "They had some outside assistance this time. If it hadn't been for that federal agent, the Red Ranger would be dead already." Simon silently fumed. He had suspected that Mandy was an agent of some kind for a while, but he never had any hard evidence until she'd brought in the new hire. He had noted that she seemed to have taken him under her wing; something she hadn't done with anyone else. He had begun to suspect that something odd was going on and when Trask reported that they had spent several hours together, his suspicions grew.

Simon briefly considered Trask. _That was a true shame_, he thought. Trask was very loyal and had carried out his every order flawlessly. He had almost hated to lose him, but ultimately Trask didn't fit into his master plans and would have had to be eliminated eventually. _Perhaps it is for the best_, he considered, a_t least this way Trask gets to live_. He turned his attention back to the alien.

"Don't worry, Treelatix," Simon spoke, "Your plans will not be disrupted further. I've got everything under control."

"Exactly how is that? You've had your man captured and he will most likely be interrogated; the Rangers are still out there trying to track us down and now they're being assisted by some other agent. I don't see that you're doing as well as you think you are Simon," Treelatix replied.

"Trask doesn't know enough about our real intentions to provide any useful information to S.P.D. I have a plan for them too," he smiled slightly.

"No," Treelatix stepped directly in front of Simon, "They're mine. They have a lot to answer for in the name of the Troobian Empire. I'll take care of them. As for that agent…"

"Let me take care that. In fact, I already have something in the works," Simon stated.

------------------------

Hailey Summers sat at her desk in the Newtech City FBI headquarters. She was half-way through her report when she realized that she was missing an important document. "That's odd," she mumbled to herself. _No big deal_, she thought. _I'll just print out another copy_. As she accessed the file for the mission, she got a surprise.

"Access denied? What the hell?" she tried her access code again and got the same message as before. "This doesn't make any sense at all," she left her desk and headed towards the Captain's office. _Oh boy, I'm sure he'll be so thrilled to see me_.

She tapped lightly on the door and waited until she heard a muttered "Enter." She opened the door and stepped inside. Captain Bradley did not look pleased to see her.

"Sir."

"What is it Agent Summers?" he asked in a gruff tone.

"The operational file, sir. I can't seem to access it. I need it to finish my report…" Hailey said before the Captain cut her off.

"No you don't. You can very well finish your report without it," was his terse reply.

"But, sir…" Hailey started.

Bradley stood up from behind his desk, glaring at her. "No buts. You're on suspension. As such, all your rights and accesses have been blocked. You shouldn't even be here now." He sat back down and waved at hand at her dismissively as he turned back to his paperwork. "Finish your report and then get out. Don't bother to come back in until I call you. Dismissed."

Hailey drew in a deep breath to calm her anger. "Yes, sir," she replied, then turned on her heel and left the office. _What an ass_, she grumbled to herself, _now he won't even let me get my work done like I'm supposed to. And he's the one that wanted the damn report in the first place. _

Hailey strode back over to her desk and sat down, staring at the computer screen. She sat there for several minutes not doing anything until she was interrupted by a quiet cough. She glanced up from her computer screen to see Janet, the department secretary standing nearby. "Oh, sorry, Janet. I didn't see you there. Is there something I can help you with?"

"I only need your signature on a few things. Formalities, you know," she leaned over closer to Hailey, "I'm so sorry about what happened. I personally think you're the best agent we have here and for Captain Bradley to go and…"

"That's okay, Janet," Hailey said quietly, cutting her off, "I appreciate the thought though."

The secretary just smiled slightly as she handed a stack of papers to Hailey. Hailey took them and began to skim them over; signing where needed. As she reached the end of the stack a thought occurred to her.

"Janet? Don't you have an authorization form to release the files to an external agency? Specifically one for S.P.D.?" Hailey asked.

Janet shook her head no, "I don't have anything like that, Agent Summers. In fact, I just got the form back from Captain Bradley that locks the entire file."

Hailey jerked her head up from the papers in surprise. "The entire file? Why?"

Janet shrugged slightly. "I don't know. I can only assume that it must be because there is some highly classified information in there. But I'm sure you know more about that than I would."

Hailey became very puzzled, but didn't let it show. "Of course; I'm certain that the Captain has his reasons." _The question is_, she wondered, _what exactly are those reasons?_

------------------------

Sky slapped both of his palms down on the top of the table in the small interrogation room as he faced their prisoner. "You're not making this any easier on yourself. If you give us the information we want, you can lessen your sentence."

Trask just leaned back in his chair, not saying a word.

Sky bowed and shook his head slightly. He glanced back up at the two-way mirror, knowing that his fellow Rangers were watching.

"Boy, he just really doesn't want to talk, does he?" Bridge commented.

"Maybe you should give it a try," Z replied as she poked Bridge in the arm, "It worked really well the last time with that Al guy."

Syd rolled her eyes. "That wasn't really Bridge interrogating him; that was just Bridge talking him to death."

Bridge shrugged. "Hey, it still worked didn't it?"

The door to the observation room opened and Sky walked in. He looked at his teammates. "Any ideas? I'm fresh out."

Syd turned to face him. "Well, we were just thinking that we could let Bridge give it a try. At the very least, he'll torture the guy by driving him totally nuts and maybe then he'll want to talk."

Bridge frowned at her slightly.

Sky walked over to lean against the glass. "Whatever. I don't see that we're going to get much out him the way we're currently going," he glanced over at Bridge, "It's up to you if you want to go in there or not."

"Okay, sure. Why not?" Bridge replied. He turned and left the observation room, closing the door behind him.

Z stepped up to face the Pink Ranger. "Syd, that was a bit uncalled for don't you think?"

"What?" Syd asked in reply. "I didn't say anything. I mean I was just horsing around, like we usually do. No big deal."

Z shook her head. "Look, I know we're all used to picking on Bridge just a little, but I think we should ease up just a bit," she looked intently at Syd, "And I don't think we should make any jokes about torture of any kind for a long time."

Syd started to say something in response then stopped herself when she realized what she'd done. "Oh no. I didn't really mean for it to come out like that. I hope it didn't bother Bridge too much."

Sky pushed himself off of the glass and approached the girls. "I think you're both overreacting. Bridge is a tough guy. One little joke isn't going to bug him. You both need to stop trying to protect him at every turn. He can take care of himself. Now, can we get back to work, please?"

"Okay, Mr. Grumpy. Geesh, what's gotten into you lately?" Syd responded.

"Nothing. Let's just focus on our jobs for once, shall we?" Sky said as he turned back towards the observation window.

"Sure. No prob." Z replied as she stood next to the Red and Pink Rangers and watched Bridge enter the interrogation room. _Yes,_ she thought to herself, _Bridge is pretty tough. But he's not quite as tough as you think he is, Sky. At least not right now. It's up to us to see that he gets there._

------------------------

Commander Cruger made his way through the crowded marketplace. He had received a transmission from Agent Summers that she wanted to meet him someplace away from either S.P.D. or FBI headquarters. He spied the little outdoor café that she had told him to come to and saw her sitting at an outside table, going over an LCD pad.

He crossed over to where she sat. "Agent Summers?"

Hailey looked up at the sound of her name. "Commander Cruger. I'm glad you could come. Please sit."

Cruger took a seat opposite of her and quickly looked her over. "What is that you wished to see me about?"

Hailey shook her head and sighed. "I don't know what's going on anymore, but I can't sit idly by while Earth is at stake," she looked at him intently, "I don't believe that Captain Bradley intends to release any information related to the Withers case to you at all. In fact, he's ordered that the file be sealed. Even I can't get to it any more."

Cruger looked vaguely perplexed, "Why would he do such a thing?"

"I have no idea. But frankly I'm worried. Here," she handed him the LCD pad, "This is the file with all the information that my office has on this case. I can't break the encryption code; I thought perhaps that you might know someone who can."

Cruger took the pad from her and stared intently at her. "While I appreciate the gesture, you do realize what this could mean for your career, don't you?"

She nodded slightly. "I do. But I don't care. The lives of everyone on this planet could be in danger and that's more important than my career. Besides…" she glanced down as she laced her fingers together on the top of the table, "I'm not sure I like where my career is headed. I don't know who to trust anymore."

"Agent Summers," Cruger got her attention and she looked back up at him, "From everything I've seen and heard about you, you're an excellent agent and an honorable person. If you're unsure about your current job, I'm sure I can find a position for you within S.P.D. I think you'd be a valuable asset to us."

"Thank you, Commander. I'll keep that in mind," Hailey stood up and stuck her hand out.

Cruger rose as well, and grasped her hand, shaking it firmly. "Thank you for this information, Agent Summers. And please remember what I said; think it over and let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

She nodded once and turned to leave; Cruger turned in the opposite direction, headed back to the S.P.D. base when he was stopped by a voice calling his name. "Commander Cruger?"

He turned back to look at Agent Summers.

"I don't have to think about it any longer," she stated.

------------------------

Captain Bradley studied over the mountain of paperwork on his desk when there was a soft knock on his door. "Come in."

Janet Chrisitian walked in to his office. "Sir, there's something I think you should know."

He glanced up from his paperwork to look at the secretary. "What is it, Janet?"

"The file on the Withers case. There was an unauthorized copy made," she told him.

Bradley narrowed his eyes. "Was the encryption broken?"

She shook her head as she replied, "No, sir. It was just copied."

"By who?"

"Agent Summers, sir," she said.

Bradley clenched his jaw in anger. "Thank you, Janet. That will be all."

------------------------

Simon listened intently to his contact on the other end of the line. "Excellent," he replied, "Things are going much better than I could have anticipated. Let me know how things develop. You'll be paid handsomely."

He flipped close his cell phone and turned to face Treelatix. "It's time we made our move."

------------------------

The Rangers entered the command center to see Kat working at the controls.

"Kat," Sky spoke, "Where's the Commander?"

"He got called away on some business. I expect that he'll be back shortly," she glanced up from the console to look at the Rangers, "How did the interrogation go? Did you get any useful information?"

Sky shook his head as Syd spoke up. "We couldn't get anything out him. He's just not the very talkative type."

"Perhaps I know someone that might get him to open up," Cruger stated as he entered the command center.

"Sir?" Z asked, puzzled.

He vaguely waved a hand at them as he crossed over to stand next to Kat. "She'll be here shortly. Kat, I want you to go over the data on this pad," he stated as he handed her a black LCD pad.

Kat took it and began to skim it over. "This file is pretty heavily encrypted; it'll take me some time to crack it. Where did you get this from?"

"From me," a voice spoke from behind them. The Rangers turned to see Hailey Summers dressed in a new S.P.D. cadet uniform.

"Hailey. What are you doing here?" Sky asked.

"And what's up with new duds?" Z added.

She shrugged slightly and grinned at them. "I figured it was about time for a career change," she glanced up at Cruger and Kat, "Do you think you can get into that file?"

"Yes," Kat replied as she shook her head lightly, "I just don't understand why."

Hailey let out a large sigh before continuing, "Because I don't think Bradley ever had any intention of releasing that information to you all. And as I told the Commander earlier, I think there's too much at stake for one person's pride to get in the way."

"I agree," Cruger looked them all over briefly, "Rangers, I want you to go out there and see if you can locate Simon Withers. He may be the key we need to bring a stop to all of this."

"Yes, sir!" the rangers replied and saluted in unison, turning to depart the command center.

"Wait," Cruger called out.

They all stopped and turned to face him.

"Sir?" Bridge asked.

"I want you to take Cadet Summers with you. She's been around this Withers character longer than the rest of you have. She may be able to provide some assistance," he glanced briefly at her.

"Sure. Why not," she turned towards the rangers, "I'm ready if you are."

"Right," Sky nodded, "Let's go."

The four rangers left followed by Hailey.

Kat looked up at Cruger briefly, "I hope you know what you're doing."

He nodded slightly in response, "Yes, I do."

------------------------

Simon was starting to get impatient. "You'd think they'd be here by now," he muttered to no-one in particular. After a few more moments, he heard a few vehicles pull up in the distance. "Finally."

The four Rangers and Cadet Summers rounded the corner of the building, to spot a man in a white suit casually leaning against a crate. "Ah, here you all are at last. One would think that people in positions of your caliber would be more…punctual."

Z glanced at her teammates. "Is this guy for real?"

"Oh, yeah," Hailey spoke up, "Don't let him fool you though. He's not the nice guy he tries to make himself out to be."

"But of course I'm not," he smiled slyly at all of them, "You should know my dear Mandy…or...whatever your real name is."

"Frankly, that's none of your business," she shot back at him, "The only thing you need to know is that you're under arrest," she glanced briefly at the Rangers, "Right?"

"Yep," Syd stepped forward, "You'll be coming with us. Then you'll answer some questions."

"And if you're lucky, you might get a lighter sentence," Sky added, "But in your case, I doubt it."

Simon lightly caressed his chin with his fingers. "Then it doesn't sound like a very equitable arrangement for me," he stood up fully, "I'm afraid I'll have to decline your offer."

"You don't have a choice. We're taking you in and there's nothing you can do to stop us," Bridge stated.

"Oh, it's not me you need to worry about. It's them," he pointed to behind the Rangers.

They all turned to see two large Asian men standing directly behind them, cracking their knuckles.

"This doesn't look good," Z spoke.

"I'll say," Syd added.

Sky turned towards Hailey. "Go after Simon and stay back. Let us take care of these goons."

"Sky…" she started.

"Do what I tell you, you're no match for these guys. Get Simon and stay with him. Rangers!" he turned back to his teammates, "Let's get to it!"

The four Rangers charged in, Sky and Z taking on one while Bridge and Syd teamed up against the other.

Hailey quickly backed off and faced Simon. "Ready?"

Simon just shrugged and smiled slightly.

She continued to approach him and was shocked when Simon stuck both of his arms out at her; wrists together. "I'm ready, officer."

_This is not like him_, she thought. _He's got to be up to something_. She pulled out a pair of cuffs and slipped them on his wrists. He just continued to smile at her. _What the hell is going on? _she wondered.

She heard a loud crash and turned back to see the four Rangers picking themselves up after they had landed into some containers.

"These guys are tough," Bridge stated.

"Yah, too tough if you ask me. No one should be able to fight like that," Z responded.

"Alright. Time to kick it up a notch. Ready?" Sky spoke as he pulled out his morpher.

"Ready!" the other three replied.

"S.P.D. Emergency!" the cried in unison.

Hailey heard Simon chuckle vaguely as they watched the Rangers morph and re-engage their opponents. Hailey studied them as they fought. Though the Rangers kept landing hits, it didn't seem to be doing anything to their rivals. _Okay, I know Brak and Chan were really tough, but this isn't making any sense_. She peered out of the corner of her eye at Simon, who continued to smile.

Syd rolled to the ground as she was struck across the chest, her suit sparking. "Syd!" Bridge pulled up in front of her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she replied as she got back to her feet. She screwed her face up in grimace under her helmet as she watched Sky and Z get the same treatment that she had just received.

"This isn't working!" Z called out.

"Tell me about," Sky replied.

"They're too strong," Syd yelled across to her teammates.

"How can they do that?" Bridge wondered aloud, "We should be doing some damage to them, after all. I mean normal people wouldn't…"

"Bridge!" Sky shouted out to end the Blue Ranger's tirade. "We need to focus," he turned towards his fellow rangers briefly, "We'll take them all together in one rush," he aimed both his delta blasters directly at their opponents who just seemed to be waiting for the Rangers to make their move.

"Ready?" Sky asked.

Bridge, Z and Syd brought their weapons up. "Ready!"

"Rangers, go!" Sky yelled.

Hailey heard Simon chuckle lightly from her side. She turned to glare at him as she decided that she'd had enough. "Alright, what game are you playing at now? What the hell are you and your goons up to?" she grasped the cuffs between his wrists and yanked him closer to her.

"Nothing, I assure you, my dear," he glanced back at the fight that was going on only a few feet away, "But it would appear that your friends are not doing very well."

She turned back just in time to see Brak and Chan each hit two of the Rangers, sending them flying backwards in a barrage of sparks. All four Rangers hit the ground hard, knocking them out of their morphs.

"Oh man, that _**hurt**_," Z stated as she struggled to get up.

"No kidding," Bridge added as he sat up.

"We have to take them out," Sky spoke up, as he rose to his knees.

"Uh guys, I hate to say this but, I think we're in trouble," Syd said.

The two massive men closed in on the Rangers, moving as if none of the various blows they had taken bothered them in the slightest.

The Rangers continued to struggle to get up, but their opponents were nearly on top of them when a voice stopped the two men short.

"Hey! Remember me?"

Sky looked up to see Hailey standing behind the two large men, taking up a fighting stance.

"Hailey, no!" he yelled at her.

"What is she doing?" Z stated, "She can't fight them without a morph! She'll be killed!"

The Rangers looked on as the two Asians turned towards Hailey. The both briefly glanced at each other, then charged her.

"No!" Sky yelled out, finally getting to his feet, going for his morpher as the rest of the Rangers stood up as well.

He didn't have a chance to morph as he watched in surprise as Hailey easily dodged the two swings that headed for her, then retaliated with a punch that actually made one of the two men stagger back a step.

"What the…" Syd started to ask.

"Don't even ask, Syd," Z replied.

"How is she doing that?" Bridge wondered aloud, "Shouldn't she be getting her butt kicked? She doesn't even have a morph and she's…" his eyebrows shot up as he watched her get in another punch that landed one of her opponents on the ground, "…beating them? And we didn't even do hardly any damage? Um…"

Sky just shook his head in utter shock as the second man landed next to the first. Hailey stood there, breathing slightly heavily, still in a defensive stance.

Hailey looked up from her rivals to see the Rangers all staring at her oddly. _Oh crap_, she thought, _How the hell am I going to explain this?_

"Nicely done!" they heard some soft clapping and turned to see that Simon had somehow gotten free of his cuffs and was walking towards them all.

Hailey stepped forward to cut him off. "I had you handcuffed to that railing! How did you get loose?"

He chuckled slightly at her. "It seems we're all full of secrets, aren't we my dear?" He slipped a hand in his jacket and pulled out a teleporter, quickly aiming it at the two men on the ground before waving once at the Rangers and Hailey as he vanished.

"No! Ugh!" Hailey balled her fists up and kicked at the ground. "I can't believe he just got away." She looked back up at the Rangers who exchanged several looks with each other before Sky walked up to her.

"I think we need to talk," the Red Ranger told her.

_Great, here we go again_, Hailey thought to herself.

_**To Be Continued**_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers. No copyright infringement is intended_


	9. Chapter 9: Let the Truth be Known

"What can I say? I'm a freak of nature," Hailey told the Rangers as they sat around the command console.

"But how…" Bridge started.

"How did I get this way?" she shook her head slightly, "I have no idea," she bowed her head briefly before continuing; looking back up at the Rangers, "I was about 12 when it really became obvious. I knew for a while that it seemed like I was stronger than the other kids, but really didn't realize it until I got mad one day and punched a hole straight through a wall."

"Ow. That must have hurt," Syd said.

"Actually, it didn't," Hailey shrugged, "I didn't even get a scratch."

"And then what?" Z prompted.

"Well, like all kids do when they find out someone's different, I got picked on a lot. Called a freak and all kinds of other things. That's when I split," she looked directly at Sky, "That bit I told you about running away from an orphanage?" he nodded slightly, "That wasn't a load of bull. The rest though was."

She looked intently at them, "I've never used my strength to intentionally hurt other people. I wanted to be able to help them. I thought about joining the military, but I was afraid that they'd find out. And then…well, I wasn't sure what they'd do, so I opted for law enforcement instead. That's when I joined the FBI."

"I know it must seem strange to you guys, but I can't change what I am," she shrugged slightly.

"It's not as strange as you might think," Z spoke up.

Hailey looked at her, perplexed, "What do you mean?"

"You're not the only one who's a freak," Syd stated, "We are too."

"What?" Hailey asked.

"We…are too. We all have powers," Bridge said.

"But we at least know where our powers came from," Sky added.

The door to the command center opened and Cruger strode in followed closely by Kat. "Rangers. What happened out there? I know Simon got away."

"That was my fault sir," Hailey spoke up, "I never should have left him."

"But if you hadn't, things could have turned out a lot worse," he glanced briefly at each of the Rangers, "Kat has finally broken the encryption code on the file you brought us."

"Yes. And I found some very interesting things." She brought up the contents of the file on the overhead display so that they could all see. "Most of what was in here was just reports you had filed on your progress, Hailey. But there was also a log of phone calls that Simon had made," she pointed to one in particular, "Simon made several calls to this number; however, it's not real."

"Not real?" Sky asked.

"No. It's just made to look that way. It's really a sub-space transmission signal," Kat stated.

"Sub-space signal? To where?" Bridge asked.

"We suspect Treelatix," Cruger replied.

As the Rangers were discussing Kat's findings, Hailey skimmed over the display when something caught her eye. "No way."

"Something wrong, Cadet Summers?" Kat asked her.

"I don't know yet," she replied.

"Please explain," Cruger said.

"This number here," she pointed to one on the screen.

"That number appears multiple times, but it's a legitimate phone number, so I didn't pay it any mind. Do you recognize it?" Kat stated.

"Yah, I do," she looked at all of them in turn, concern reflected in her eyes, "It's the number for Captain Bradley's office."

------------------------

Hailey and the others sat around the rec room, thinking of the implications of this new piece of evidence.

"So wait," Bridge spoke up, "Are you saying that Captain Bradley's working for the bad guys?"

"I knew I didn't like him," Z said.

"He sure doesn't seem like the friendly type," Syd added.

"It does make some sense," Sky stated, "The way he kept trying to blow us off about the case and the way he didn't want you to look into it any further," he glanced at Hailey, "Maybe he's been making sure that you never found out anything useful this whole time."

"He's not very friendly, that's true," Hailey stated, "But I don't think he's some kind of traitor. There's got to be some other explanation," she tapped her fingers on her chin for a moment, then looked up at the Rangers, "I've got an idea," she got up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Sky asked her.

"To talk to Kat," she stopped just at the doorway and looked back behind her, "Are you guys coming or not?"

Bridge and Syd glanced at each other before standing up and heading after her; Z and Sky followed.

Hailey and the others stepped into Kat's lab as she spied the scientist working at her computer. The Felorina looked up at their entrance. "Can I help you with something?"

"Possibly. Can you bring up all of the records from Captain Bradley's number?" Hailey asked her.

"No problem. Looking for anything in particular?" Kat said.

"I don't know yet," Hailey replied.

She walked over to the display that Kat had brought up as the Rangers came up to surround the console. Hailey skimmed over the logs and peered at it for a moment. "Hmm. This is odd."

"What?" Syd asked.

She pointed to two entries. "These ones here that were made two weeks ago. Captain Bradley was attending a conference at National Headquarters. He couldn't have possibly made these calls."

"Unless he just wanted you to believe that he wasn't there, in order to draw suspicion away from himself. How can you know for certain that he was even gone?" Sky stated.

"Because I called his office while he was out. I had lost track of time and had forgotten that he wouldn't be there. When I called, Janet answered the phone and reminded me of where he was," Hailey responded.

"Well, that's odd, then," Bridge spoke, "Who would leave their office open so that just anyone could walk in? I mean, you'd think that being the Captain and all that he'd lock his door or something. Like if Cruger were to go somewhere, I'm sure that…"

"Bridge," Z looked at him pointedly, "We get the idea."

Bridge cocked his head slightly and shrugged while Hailey thought about what he'd just said. "Actually, he's got a point." They all turned to look at her, mildly puzzled.

"I do?" Bridge asked.

"Yah. He does lock his office. Whenever he's not in it, it's locked. Even if he just goes to the bathroom," Hailey said.

"Paranoid, much?" Syd commented wryly.

"I don't think that's it either. Probably just making sure nothing gets seen by eyes that shouldn't," Hailey replied.

"Okay. So if he always locks his office, how can someone else get in there? Does anyone else have access to it?" Sky responded.

Hailey shook her head slightly. "I don't think so. He's got personnel records and the like in there, so not anything that the rest of us are supposed to be snooping through. I don't think there is anyone else who can get in." She leaned on the top of the console, resting her chin in her palms as she thought.

Just then the door slid open and Boom stepped in. He seemed a bit surprised to see them all there. He glanced at each of the Rangers. "Sky! I heard you were back. How'd it go?"

"Honestly; it could have been better," Sky replied dryly.

Boom made a slightly scrunched up face, "Ugh. Sorry to hear that."

"Boom," Kat cut in, "Do you have what I asked for?"

"Oh, right; sorry." He hurried over to her and handed her a few small pieces of equipment as Hailey straightened herself up a bit to watch him standing next to Kat.

"Boom, is it?" she asked.

"Yah," Boom crossed the room to stand between Bridge and Syd, "Gadget tester extraordinaire at your service!" he gave her a mock bow.

Bridge, Z and Syd chuckled a bit as Sky rolled his eyes. Hailey smirked at him, "Nice to meet you. You work with Kat?"

"Yep! I'm what you'd call her assistant," he turned back to see Kat giving him a narrowed look, "Of sorts," he added sheepishly.

"Assistant..." Hailey drew up to her full height as she seemed to consider something.

"Hailey?" Sky asked.

"The assistant. Or rather, the secretary. She has access to Bradley's office. In fact, it was her who told me that he'd ordered the file sealed."

"Sounds like you need to have a talk with this secretary," Z piped up.

"I agree," Cruger's voice came from the doorway. All eyes turned in his direction. "I heard what you've been discussing. I think you should look into further." As the Rangers started to get up, he held out a hand, stopping them. "I don't think you all need to go. Treelatix could strike at any time, so I want us to be prepared."

He looked directly at Sky and Hailey. "Cadet Summers, since this is still a case that's more familiar to you, I'd like you to go. Tate, I want you to accompany her."

"Yes, sir," Sky replied as Hailey nodded.

"Just one thing before you go, however," he turned towards Dr. Manx, "Kat?"

Kat picked something up from the top of her desk and walked over to stand next to Cruger, facing the group of cadets. She extended her arm towards Hailey, holding out a small black and white device. "This has already been encoded with your DNA. When you first activate it, it will automatically give you all the information you need to know in order to operate everything."

Hailey looked quizzically between Cruger and Kat, "I don't understand. That's…"

"A morpher," Cruger spoke, "Kat and I observed your battle with Simon's men and I feel that you work well with B-Squad. Though they've done an excellent job, there should really be a team of five rangers. The Green Ranger has been missing for too long."

"Cool!" Bridge burst out, "A girl gets my old color! Sweet!"

Everyone turned to towards him, various looks of exasperation on their faces. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.

"I suppose that counts as one vote," Cruger stated, "Though I can offer you this position, it is really up to the members of the team to make that decision. Rangers, what say you?"

Z and Syd glanced at each other briefly. "The girls outnumber the guys for once?" Syd stated, "I'm totally cool with that."

"Me too. I think you'd be great," Z added.

Bridge just gave her a double thumbs-up, "Like the Commander said, I already gave my vote."

Hailey turned to look at Sky, who sighed slightly, "Well, I think you've already shown that you know how to handle yourself and you're pretty good at solving crimes from what I can see so far. Plus, you've saved my life once already. You're already got what it takes to be a Ranger in my book."

Hailey didn't know what to say as she reached out and tentatively took the morpher that Kat was still holding. "Thanks. This…this is not anything I would have expected."

"You earned it. Now I believe you have some work to get done?" Cruger said.

"Yes, sir!" Hailey and Sky both saluted and headed out of the lab.

He turned to head back to the command center when he was stopped by a question.

"Sir?" Bridge spoke quietly.

The Commander turned back to look at the Blue Ranger. "Yes Bridge?"

"Did you know about her powers? Like you knew about ours? Did she happen to get them the same way that we did? Did…?"

"Cadet Carson," Cruger cut off his questioning with a quiet voice, "I don't think it's quite the time to get into that just yet. But I will answer your first question. Yes; I did know."

Without saying another word, he strode out of the room, leaving three very puzzled looking Rangers behind him.

------------------------

Sky and Hailey pulled up in front of the Newtech City FBI Headquarters. Sky heard Hailey sigh softly. He turned towards her, "You okay?"

"Yah, I'm alright, just a little in shock, is all. It's hard to believe that there could be a traitor within the FBI," she sighed once again.

"Well, that's what we're here to find out. Ready?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she replied, "C'mon let's get this over with." She hopped out of the patrol jeep and waited for Sky to follow her into the building.

Waltzing in through the double doors, Hailey passed by the reception desk, turned down a hallway or two and then weaved her way around through a field of scattered desks, Sky close on her heels.

A few people looked up at their passage; a couple registering shocked looks at seeing their former co-worker in an SPD uniform.

Without pausing, Hailey walked straight up to Janet Chrisitian's desk, clearing her throat to get the secretary's attention.

"May I...," Janet started, then stopped when she looked up to see who it was, "Hailey! What a nice surprise! Did Captain Bradley call you back into service already?"

"Not exactly; do you have a minute in which we can talk?" Hailey leaned down a bit closer to Janet, "In private?"

"Sure, no problem, right this way," Janet slid open her desk drawer and pulled out a set of keys, jingling them as she searched for the one she wanted. Getting up, she strode for the row of offices that lined the back far wall. Hailey shot Sky a brief look back across her shoulder as Janet led them straight for Captain Bradley's office.

Janet paused before the office door as she unlocked it, "He's out for the moment, so we can use his office," she turned and motioned them in once she had the door open, "Go right in."

Hailey stepped in followed by Sky, Janet closing the door once she was inside, "So what it is you wanted to talk to me about? Nothing wrong about the Captain I hope."

Sky became suspicious at her choice of words, _Funny how she immediately tries to place some kind of insinuation on the Captain, _he mused_, could be she's trying to draw attention away from elsewhere. Or someone..._

"Well, we've come across a bit of a mystery and I was hoping you could help us solve it," Hailey kept her tone light and easy, but she hadn't missed the silent accusation Janet had attempted to lay before them. Hailey smiled at her slightly, not wanting arouse the secretary's suspicions.

"We?" she asked curiously, "Who's we?"

"SPD. Me and Sky here. The rest of the Rangers," Hailey nodded slightly as Janet seemed to realize what the color banded uniform signified, "Yep, I'm not FBI anymore, Janet; I didn't like what I saw going on here and so had to make a change. You do understand, I hope?" Hailey watched the other woman carefully, keeping an eye out for any sign of apprehension.

"Oh sure, I understand; personally I think there are some shady things going on around here myself," she twirled her fingers together just for a moment, "There are bad things happening here, isn't there? You know, I see a lot of odd things cross my desk, but I've always been scared to come forward. I'm just the secretary, after all, who would believe me? Especially compared to someone like the Captain..."

Hailey took a quick step forward, causing Janet to pause in her speech, "I need to know Janet, did Captain Bradley take that trip to the seminar at National Headquarters? There are some things that just aren't adding up."

"Well, yes," she stammered in reply, "But I don't see where that has anything to do with..."

"It means everything, Janet," Hailey cut her off quickly, "A series of unauthorized transmissions were sent from his office via sub-space when he wasn't even here. The only person who has access to his office is you. Care to explain?"

Janet drew herself resolutely and stared the newly appointed Green Ranger down, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Bullshit," Hailey took another step towards the other woman, "You were the only other person to know of my mission into Simon's operation. You were the only one besides Bradley and me with access to my reports. Then suddenly they all get locked up."

Hailey continued to advance on the other woman as she spoke, effectively trapping her in the corner by the door, "Perhaps you overlooked some detail and had to act quickly before you got caught. I'll admit, I hadn't suspected you until just recently; you're good, really good, but you messed up. I just want to know why. Why betray the FBI? Why betray Earth? What did you hope to gain out of it?"

"Money, what else?" Janet sneered at her, "What you think the FBI pays me well?" Janet laughed hollowly, "And maybe I'd just get a bit of respect for once too. Do you know how often people disregard me? If they're not ignoring me outright, they're just using me as a tool to get something done for them," Janet shook her head slightly, "I do regret that it had to be you to take the fall for this, though. Out of everyone, you're the only one to treat me like a real person," she shrugged, "But unfortunately, your mission provided the best opportunity to make my move. Nothing personal, you understand."

"I do understand," Hailey replied, "And I hope you understand that this isn't personal either; you're under arrest for treason to Earth and sabotage." Hailey grabbed the other woman by the shoulders and quickly spun her around, cuffing her wrists together. Surprisingly, Janet did not put up fight.

Hailey spun her around slightly so she could look the other woman in the eye, "I'm sure Captain Bradley will level additional charges against you as well."

The other woman jeered at her, a reaction neither Hailey nor Sky expected, "It doesn't matter now, the plan has already been set into motion and there's nothing that either the FBI or SPD can do to stop it. Simon's going to get what he wants and Treelatix as well."

"Treelatix?" Sky took an urgent step forward, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough, I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise for you," Janet smirked back. Maddingly, that is all she would say on the subject, so Sky and Hailey had no choice but to drag her back to SPD Headquarters.

A few stunned looks greeted them as the trio emerged from Captain Bradley's office. An agent stepped forward to cut them off. "What the hell is going on here? Where are you taking her, ex-Agent Summers?" He made sure to emphasize the word 'ex' as he glanced in Hailey's direction.

"That's Officer Summers to you now, Agent Cullum," Hailey replied curtly, "Janet Chrisitian is being placed under arrest by Space Patrol Delta for crimes committed against Earth. Now step aside."

"I don't think..." the agent began but fell silent as Sky stepped forward.

"You heard Officer Summers," he growled at the other man, "Don't make me arrest you for impeding SPD business."

The FBI agent stepped back, allowing Sky and Hailey to haul Janet away. As they stepped outside, Sky's morpher chirped at him. "Tate here; go."

"Sky," a slightly worried Kat's voice came through the speaker, "We need you and Hailey to report back to base now. There's been a problem."

Sky and Hailey exchanged a worried glance as they ushered Janet into the jeep.

------------------------

"You see, Treelatix, I told you everything would work out just fine," Simon purred at the alien, "You got exactly what you wanted."

Treelatix growled low in his throat, "No, I didn't get 'exactly' what I wanted; only part," he paced around the command deck of his ship briefly before turning back to face the human, "But this is a start. I shall enjoy ripping these particular ones apart."

He laughed manically, the sound echoing ominously throughout the corridors of his ship.

------------------------

Hailey and Sky practically flew into the Command Center once they had deposited Janet into a holding cell. Sky drew up and gave a quick salute to Commander Cruger, noting out of the corner of his eye that Syd seemed distraught over something.

"Sir? What's going on?" he asked as Hailey came to stand next to him.

"While you were out, Simon reappeared. I sent Syd, Z and Bridge to apprehend him," Cruger shook his head slightly, "He had those other two men with him. Your teammates were no match for them."

"What?" Sky asked; dumfounded, shock ringing in his voice, "What does that mean?"

Syd turned a tearful expression towards him, "He got them Sky; Simon took Z and Bridge."

_**To Be Continued**_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers. No copyright infringement is intended_


	10. Chapter 10: Teamwork

Sky was dumfounded at Syd's words. _Simon took Z and Bridge? _his mind raced in frantic circles, _But if he has them, that means he'll probably turn them over to... _He shuddered at the thought of his friends falling into the hands of the Troobian villain. He remembered all too well the shape Bridge had been in when he returned from Gruumm's clutches. He wasn't sure how well his friend would be able to withstand another round of torture. And as for Z...

Sky dropped his head, staring at the floor as he leaned heavily against the command console. He was vaguely aware of Syd coming to stand next to him. She slipped arm through his and rested her cheek against his arm. He could feel her shaking slightly.

He drew in a shuddering breath before speaking, "It'll be okay, Syd," he raised his head back up to stare into her eyes, "We'll get them back. I promise," clenching his jaw in determination, he looked directly at Cruger, "We need to go after them. Simon will turn them over to Treelatix, and try to force all the information they have about SPD out of them. We can't let that happen."

"Sky, I understand your concern, but I can't authorize a rescue mission at this time," Cruger replied solemnly.

Sky nearly yelled in outrage, "What? You're not saying we just leave them there, are you? Give up on them?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying. Earth is still in danger and I can't justify sending my front-line team off on such a risky mission when they're needed here. I'm sorry, Sky, but you and the rest of your team will stay."

"Just like before," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that, cadet?" Cruger growled low in his throat.

Sky drew himself up to his full height and stared his commanding officer down. "I said; just like before. Like you did with A-Squad. You left them out there alone; no backup, no aid, no rescue attempt. And now you're going to do the same to Bridge and Z," Sky shook his head, "I can't let you do that. I can't do nothing. This time, I'm not going to stand idly by."

"Cadet!" Cruger barked angrily, "You are out of line!"

"No disrespect, sir, but no; I'm not. You are. You can't abandon your men to the front lines. One of the first basic strategies of warfare. A good commanding officer does not leave men behind; knowing that they have a leader who won't abandon them is what keeps up troop morale, even in the midst of great battles and insurmountable odds. Do you want every cadet in this Academy to lose faith in you?"

Cruger growled dangerously, "Cadet, you are overstepping your bounds! One more disrespectful remark and I'll relieve you of your post!"

"Sky," Syd tugged on his arm, "Come on, let it go; this isn't going to help Z or Bridge."

Hailey had wisely remained quiet throughout the whole exchange. Though she could see the wisdom in Cruger's decision, she also agreed with Sky. Leaving your men behind was never a good option. Only if the needs were dire and the situation utterly hopeless did one abandon fellow teammates.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped between Sky and Cruger. "Sir, it's been a long day. For all of us. Perhaps cooler heads will prevail tomorrow?"

Cruger considered her words as he continued to glare at Sky. Finally he shifted his gaze to the newest Ranger. "Perhaps tomorrow; yes. Dismissed." He turned away from them before he could say anything further that any of them would regret.

Hailey turned to face Sky. Syd still had a hold on his arm and was tugging at him lightly. "Sky; let's go." She grabbed his other arm and shook it slightly.

Sky seemed to finally regain his senses and allowed the girls to draw him out of the Command Center. His mind was reeling at Cruger's words; he still couldn't believe that he'd be willing to leave them in Treelatix's hands. He was vaguely aware that Syd and Hailey were guiding him to the common room, as they entered, Sky got another idea and suddenly the girls found themselves nearly dragged into Sky's room.

As soon as they got inside, Sky shrugged them both off and Syd glared at him. "Sky?! What the hell is your problem? Were you purposely trying to pull my arm off or what?"

"No; I just needed to get you both in here so we could all talk," he gazed intently at Syd, "Do you remember what we discussed the first time Bridge was captured?"

"Of course," she replied shortly, "But how does that...oh my god. You want to go after them. Just like you wanted to go after Bridge then."

Sky stepped directly in front of her, "Syd, I meant what I said to Cruger. I can't stand by and do nothing. Not this time. Do you remember the plan we came up with?" she nodded vaguely, "I think it will work for this too. What do you say?"

Syd glanced at the floor briefly before meeting his gaze once more. "Yes. I can't leave them in Treelatix's hands any more than you can."

Sky nodded once then turned towards Hailey, "What about you? If we do this, it's likely that we'll be expelled from the Academy. You don't know Z and Bridge quite as well as Syd and I do, so I'll understand if you don't want to go..."

"Sky," Hailey cut him off gently, "I may not know them as well as you guys; yet, but I became a part of this team as soon as I accepted the morpher. I'm with you guys all the way. I've seen what happens when people are left behind," she finished quietly.

"Good; then sit. Syd and I will fill you in on all the details."

------------------------

Bridge came to slowly, shaking his head slightly against the pounding of his head. He opened his eyes and glancing around he saw a wire-like wall that looked very familiar.

"Oh great, just great," he muttered to himself. He continued to survey the cell and spotted Z lying on the floor a few feet behind him. He quickly scrambled over to her side; his heart pounding in his chest. With a great sense of trepidation, he reached out a hand and touched her shoulder. He heaved a large sigh of relief when her eyes fluttered open.

"Bridge?" Z asked, confused. She quickly scanned the area, seeing that they were in a Troobian designed cell. She sat up, placed a hand against the side of her head, and winced slightly as her head throbbed.

"Yah, I know. They have a tendency to give someone the worst of headaches," he placed a hand back on her shoulder, "Are you okay?"

Z looked up at Bridge and saw the worry etched on his face. She began to wonder at the feelings he currently displayed. She nodded at him, "I'm alright."

He nodded back briefly and then turned away to glance around the cell. "Well, I suppose we'd better start working on a way to get out of here."

_So much for him having a great sense of concern about me,_ Z thought despondently. Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by a booming voice.

"You won't be getting out so easily this time, Ranger."

Z and Bridge turned to see Treelatix standing just outside of the cell. Quickly scrambling to their feet, Bridge clenched his jaw in anger as he glared at the Troobian, "You'll not keep us here for very long, I promise you that."

Z was a bit startled by the tone of Bridge's voice; she'd never heard him sound so cold or dispassionate before.

Treelatix laughed at him, "I can assure you of that, Ranger. Unlike Gruumm, I don't plan to keep you a moment past your usefulness. I'll dispose of you quickly enough."

Bridge shuddered ever so slightly, as he had no doubts of what Treelatix was implying. He backed a step away, bumping lightly into Z who stood behind him. Bridge steeled his nerves against his fears. Despite what Treelatix might do to him, Bridge silently vowed that he wouldn't let Z come to harm. He stared back at Treelatix.

"You can try," Bridge replied grimly.

Treelatix laughed menacingly. "I won't have to try. You can attempt to stand up to me, but it won't do you any good in the end. I'll make you suffer and pay for what S.P.D. did to the Troobian Empire."

Bridge shook his head at him, "I don't care what you do to me. You'll still not win."

"So, you don't care about what I'll do to you, hmm?" Treelatix smiled wickedly, "Then what about _her_?"

Without any further warning, Treelatix's hand shot through an open space of the cell bars and grabbed Z's arm; yanking her forward, nearly pulling her off her feet.

"Remember this?" he asked cruelly, as he held up the same device that Morgana had used on Bridge before.

Bridge's heart nearly skipped a beat as he realized what Treelatix was up to. He watched with horror as the Troobian began to bring the device closer to Z's arm. She struggled against him, but wasn't strong enough to get free of his grasp.

"NO!" he shouted as he jumped between Z and Treelatix; shoving himself between her and the oncoming device.

It hit him in the shoulder and he was suddenly awash with a searing pain that racked every muscle throughout his body and set every nerve afire. He couldn't tell how long it lasted, but it seemed like an eternity before the pain suddenly stopped, leaving behind a dull, throbbing ache.

He gasped slightly and stumbled a bit; nearly losing his footing as he felt arms wrap around from behind him; supporting him.

Treelatix laughed maniacally, "I thought as much." He continued to laugh as he turned away from the cell and left the room.

Z was left feeling dumbfounded. One moment, Treelatix had grabbed her, holding some weird device as she fought against him. The next thing she knew, Bridge had seemingly come out of nowhere and somehow had managed to squeeze himself between her and the cell bars.

She felt Bridge shudder as she held onto him and his knees suddenly gave out; nearly sending them both crashing to the ground. She managed to brace herself just in time and slowly eased him down as she sank with him to sit on the floor.

"Bridge?" she asked quietly, running a hand through his hair as she sat behind him, holding him up.

Bridge slowly managed to regain his senses as the pain lessened slightly and he felt a gentle hand brush his head. He thought he heard a soft voice call his name. "I'm here," he croaked out quietly.

Z wrapped her arms around him gently and rested her cheek against his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Bridge." She managed to get that much out before she began to weep silently.

Bridge could feel her tremble slightly. He placed a hand on the top of her head. "It's okay. Everything will be alright." He suddenly tensed and gasped as another spasm raged through his body.

Z felt him shake involuntarily and pulled her head back up, blinking her eyes to stop the flow of tears. "No, it's not okay. I won't let that creep hurt you just because of me."

"Z…" Bridge wriggled his way out of her grasp and slowly turned to look at her, ignoring the pain. "I can't stand by and watch Treelatix hurt you. I won't," he shook his head vehemently.

Z steeled herself to face her friend down. "I'm not going to sit here and let him hurt you either. That's not what friends do."

Bridge drew in a large breath before continuing. Despite what her answer might be, he was determined to tell her why it was that he couldn't allow her to be hurt. "I couldn't stand it if something were to happen to you, Z. It would kill me. I…I love you too much for that to happen." He quickly averted his eyes away from her, not wanting to see the rejection he was sure would line her face.

Z was taken aback by Bridge's admission. He did love her after all. She felt a swell of delight and elation at his words.

"Bridge," she spoke his name tenderly.

He glanced up at her; ready to have his feelings crushed but instead was startled by the look of sheer joy on her face. He was at an utter loss for words.

Z mentally chuckled at the look he wore. She slid towards him and placed a hand gently on the side of his cheek.

He drew in a swift breath and closed his eyes as he was suddenly filled with a great sense of pleasure. Rising up from beneath that, there was a large spring of love. He sighed and quavered slightly as he marveled at the feelings he got from Z. They drove every fear he had before them, leaving him with only a great sensation of contentment. He opened his eyes and looked intently at her.

She watched as Bridge sorted through all the emotions that she was sure were racing through him after she had placed her hand on his face. She knew he'd pick up anything she felt at that moment, and it was easier to have him experience directly what she did rather than trying to tell him.

Bridge saw that Z's eyes were a bit misty and looked as if they were about to spill over. He slid a little closer to her and gently placed a hand along the side of her chin, drawing her face closer to him. "I never knew you cared so much for me, Z. I had thought…" he trailed off.

"I know what you thought. You were wrong. So was I. It all seems rather silly now, doesn't it?" she told him quietly.

He just nodded briefly and seemed at a total loss of what to do next. Z decided to take the initiative away from him. She leaned into him and placed a tender kiss on his lips.

He closed his eyes and sighed as Z kissed him and the flood of emotions he felt from her intensified. He was about to lose himself in her when he was violently jerked back into reality as he was hit with a sudden spasm of pain. He groaned and drew back from Z, dropping to his hands and knees.

"Bridge!" Z cried out. She quickly grabbed a hold of him and slid herself under him, gently supporting him as another spasm struck.

Bridge fought against the waves of pain, without much success. He'd managed to keep it at bay for as long as was possible but just wasn't able to do so any more. He struggled to sit up, but only caused himself further pain in the process. He moaned slightly, though he tried to keep Z from seeing how weak he really was.

Z wrapped her arms about him, bringing his head to rest against her shoulder as she felt him tremble slightly. "It's okay, I know you're hurting. You don't have to hide it from me. Just rest. I'm here for you, no matter what."

Bridge sagged into her embrace, leaning against her; feeling protected in her arms. "Z, I…" He started to speak, but was suddenly tired and couldn't continue.

She stroked his head lightly, taking care to avoid touching his skin. _He doesn't need to get overwhelmed by my feelings right now,_ she thought. "Shh. Just lie still. I'm not going anywhere."

Bridge felt himself starting to drift away; feeling secure within Z's grasp he let himself go, falling slowly into blackness.

Z felt the tension leave his body as he passed out. She held him tighter. _No matter what you say, Bridge, I'm not going to let Treelatix hurt you anymore,_ she thought to herself, He's_ done that enough times already._

------------------------

Sky drew in a deep breath, certain that what he was about to do would be his last actions as an S.P.D. officer. Though Syd and Hailey both agreed to go along with him on this unauthorized mission, he had already decided that he was not going to let their careers suffer because of him.

Syd still had a lot to offer S.P.D. yet and Hailey had just started one career after leaving another behind. He still blamed himself for her suspension from the F.B.I. and he was damned if he'd let his actions cause her to be ousted from S.P.D. as well. He'd already decided that once they returned from rescuing Z and Bridge, he was going to take full responsibility. Even if he had to tell Cruger that he'd ordered Hailey and Syd to join him. He knew they'd probably protest, but knowing Cruger, the Commander would probably opt to expel just one of his Rangers instead of three.

Given everything that had happened, all the missions they'd gone through, he was certain that Bridge would make an excellent Red Ranger. Syd could easily be his second in command. Z and Hailey would remain as Yellow and Green Rangers, respectively, leaving the Pink slot the only one they would have to fill.

Sky sighed as he mounted his patrol bike, glancing briefly at the green and white one parked right next to him. He nodded once at the girls in the patrol jeep, Syd sitting behind the wheel. He knew that Simon and Treelatix would be looking for them, eager to capture all five Rangers. Sky was going to give them that opportunity.

Starting up the bike, he pulled out, followed closely by Syd.

------------------------

Bridge opened his eyes slowly. His body still ached, but at least the pain had lessened to manageable levels. He eased himself up into a sitting position from where he'd collapsed against Z. He swiveled his head around to peer at the young woman sitting behind him.

Z had been sitting quietly, studying the cell and the outer room when Bridge began to stir. He pushed himself off her, then turned a curious expression her way. "Are you okay?" she asked, "Does it still hurt?"

"A little," he admitted quietly, "But it's nothing that I can't handle," he paused briefly, "Thank you. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't been here."

She smiled slightly at him, "I'm glad that I'm here too. Well, I don't mean that I'm glad to be captured and imprisoned by an evil monster, but I'm happy that I'm here with you. You don't have any idea of how long I've waited to tell you how I really felt."

"Probably about as long as I did," he replied solemnly, "At any rate, I'll think I'd much rather enjoy your company somewhere other than an enemy vessel. Are you up for getting out of here yet?"

"You know it!" She gave him a quick thumbs up, causing him to laugh briefly. "While you were...resting as it were, I've been studying the cell for any weak points. I think I might have found one."

"Really? Where?" he asked, clambering to his feet.

"Here," Z quickly got up and pointed to the cell door hinges, "It would seem that our friend Treelatix isn't so good at keeping up with his ship's maintenance." She pointed to several large rust spots on the hinges. The middle hinge looked as if it was about to break at any time.

"Bad for him, good for us," Bridge stated, "Do you think we can just pry the door loose if we do it together?"

"That's what I was hoping; let's find out." She grabbed two of the cell door bars and braced herself as Bridge did the same. "Ready? Pull!"

They pulled on the door and were rewarded as they heard the metal begin to screech and snap. They kept pulling until all three hinges were forced loose, leaving a space just big enough for them to squeeze through.

Z went first, Bridge continuing to pull on the door in order to give her as much room as possible. She did the opposite, pushing from the other side as Bridge made his way through the small opening.

"Whew! I guess it's a good thing we're not terribly big, huh? Otherwise we'd probably have never gotten of there!" she said jokingly.

"Yah; come on, we'd better get moving before someone comes along and discovers that we've broken out," Bridge replied.

"I'll follow you; somehow I think you have a better idea of the layout of a Troobian ship than I do."

------------------------

Sky brought the bike to a halt at the abandoned warehouse. Ever since the F.B.I. had raided Simon's base of operations, the building had remained empty. Sky figured it would be a good place to draw Simon out. He dismounted, pulling off his helmet and turned toward the girls. "Are you guys ready for this? You can back out if you don't want to go through with it."

"Sky," Syd spoke as she climbed out of the jeep, "I'm not going to abandon you. You can't do this on your own and Z and Bridge are my friends just as much as their are yours. I can't abandon them any less than I could you."

Sky smiled at her slightly, "Thanks, Syd. I knew you wouldn't, but I had to offer you that chance anyway. After this is all over..."

"I know; but I don't care. My friends are more important. Besides," she continued cheerily, "I always have my singing to fall back on to!"

"You sing?" Hailey asked, surprised.

"Yep!" Syd turned towards her, "Bet ya didn't know that a Ranger had it them, eh?"

"I wouldn't put anything past you guys at this point. Next you're liable to tell me that Z is some kind technological genius or something!"

"Actually, that would be Bridge," Sky cut in absently, "Z's more of a music gal," he quickly turned serious, "As amusing as this all is, we need to focus right now."

"Right," Syd agreed, "Sky; do you really think this is going to work? Last time we had a bit of that stuff with us to try to draw Treelatix out. But now that he's got it, we don't have anything that makes a tempting target."

"Yes we do," he replied quietly, "Us. Treelatix wants vengeance on us because we stopped Gruumm. That should be reason enough for him."

"How right you are," a sultry voice came from the shadows nearby.

All three Rangers quickly spun as Simon stepped into view. "I see you've finally decided to accept your fate. All of you," he added as he gave Hailey a pointed look, "I'm not sure who's going to enjoy this more; Treelatix as he rips you all apart or me as I get to look on," he smiled dangerously, "So, are you ready now? I sure am!" He waved his arm in the air as Chan and Brak stepped out, flanking the Rangers.

Sky, Syd and Hailey quickly whirled and grouped together, backs facing each other as they went into defensive postures. "How are we going to take these guys down?" Syd whispered quietly.

"We don't have to," Sky replied just as softly, "Remember, we _want _them to capture us."

"Yah, but we don't want to make it seem like we're giving in," Hailey interrupted, "That'll make them suspicious and will likely blow our plan."

"Agreed," Sky stated, "We'll just have to make it look like we lost."

"That won't be too hard given the last time we encountered these guys," Syd added, "They kicked our butts pretty good, if you remember correctly."

"Here; follow my lead," Hailey quickly responded as Brak and Chan began to advance on them, "I can hurt them more than you guys can. I'll try to knock them down and you just come in after me and try get whatever hits you can on them. That should be convincing enough for Simon."

"Alright, let's do it!" Sky replied. He pitched his voice to ensure that Simon could hear him clearly, "Rangers, move out!"

Each of them giving a battle cry, they surged forward as one, charging straight for the two hulking figures that came barreling down at them.

------------------------

Boom skidded to a halt in the middle of the center of the Command Center. "Sir!" he gave Cruger a quick salute before continuing, "I looked everywhere, sir, but I couldn't find the Rangers," he finished; panting and out of breath.

Cruger growled quietly; after their exchange earlier, he rather expected Sky to go out and do something rash, but he didn't think Syd and Hailey would go along with him. He re-focused attention on the technician, "Thank you, Boom."

An alarm suddenly went off and he whirled to face Kat as her fingers flew over the console, quickly bringing up the display. "Sir...I think I've found them," she stated quietly.

Cruger studied the display for a moment, growled, and then quickly left the command center, leaving Kat and Boom to stare after him.

------------------------

Bridge glanced down a corridor, checking to make sure it was empty before stepping out. He motioned Z forward, who stepped out of the shadows and joined him in the middle of the hall.

"Which way now?" she whispered.

"I'm not sure," he replied just as quietly, "This ship is similar to Gruumm's, but it's not quite the same." He continued to look back and forth between the opposite ends of the corridor, tying to determine which would be the best way to take. And hopefully, would also be the best option for escape.

Footsteps echoed dully from their left and they quickly scrambled back into the shadows, each of them pressing themselves behind a support pillar, waiting breathlessly for whoever it was to pass them by.

The steps drew closer and louder, sounding like an army though it couldn't have been more than a handful of people at the most. Bridge stared at the bulkhead directly in front of him, not daring to move a muscle as the footfalls passed him by and began to withdraw. Quickly sticking his head out, he glanced down the corridor after the group. He sucked in a swift breath as he spied who it was. "Oh shit..."

"What? What is it?" Z asked worriedly as she poked her head out as well. "Oh no," she and Bridge exchanged a quick look, "We've got to help them."

Bridge only nodded in reply and stepped back out into the corridor. Quietly, he and Z began to trail the group as they continued along the hall.

------------------------

Mock battle or not, the three Rangers had managed to accumulate a few bumps and bruises during their fight. Syd had wrenched her shoulder while Sky sported a quickly purpling bruise to his left cheek. Hailey didn't seem to be too injured, but she was limping slightly, favoring her right ankle. Sky wasn't sure if it was an act on her part or not. He remembered their conversation from earlier that morning, where she had admitted to them all that punching through a wall didn't phase her a bit. He suspected that the limp was more for Simon's benefit than anything else.

Hands bound behind their backs, Brak and Chan roughly shoved all three of them to the floor; Sky winced slightly as his knees hit the hard surface a bit more than he had been anticipating. He glowered upwards as the large alien figure before them slowly spun around to face them.

"Well, well, well," Treelatix spoke in an amused tone, "I have the full set of Rangers! At last! I shall enjoy this immensely. After I dispose of all of you, I'll exact my revenge on Newtech City itself and free my Emperor! Then we will conquer all of Earth!"

Sky shook his head at him defiantly, "I don't think so; you can take us out, but S.P.D. will still be there to defend Earth. We're not the only base in this galaxy. Cruger will call in additional resources."

"Yes, he will." Treelatix leaned down so close to Sky that the Red Ranger could smell his putrid breath. Sky forced himself not to gag as Treelatix continued his tirade, "Additional troops or not, it won't matter. Earth will still fall, then once we have your miserable little planet firmly within our clutches, it will become our base as we move to conquer the entire galaxy!" The Troobian stood up, laughing evilly.

Sky sucked in a swift breath, grateful for the fresh air. Mostly fresh air, at any rate. Once he had regained his breath, he glared at Treelatix once more, "Cruger will stop you, I know he will. You can't beat the Shadow Ranger."

"I will!" Treelatix's arm shot out in sudden anger, catching Sky across the face, sending him sprawling to the floor.

"Sky!" he heard Syd call out. He forced himself back up, spitting out a bit of blood as he did so. "You'll see; this is one battle you're not going to win, monster."

Treelatix raised his arm as if he was about to strike Sky again when a small alarm went off. He turned to face the console and growled in rage as he skimmed over the data.

"Simon!" he whirled quickly, "Take these three and throw them in a cell! Then you and your men are to begin a sweep of the ship. Now go!"

Simon looked puzzled for a moment, "Sweep the ship? Whatever for?"

Treelatix stepped up to the smaller human and whispered something into his ear, Simon nodding in response, then withdrawing from the Troobian. "Of course, we'll take care of it right away, don't worry."

Simon nodded once to Brak and Chan who took that as their cue to haul the three Rangers to their feet. Forcing them to march quickly, Simon weaved his wave through numerous corridors before finally stepping into a room and motioning towards the cell that took up much of the interior space.

The Rangers were quickly shoved inside, the door slamming loudly behind them as Simon and his goons quickly departed.

Hailey and Sky glanced at each other quizzically, "What the hell was that all about?" she asked, "They seemed kind of in a hurry all of a sudden."

Sky shrugged as Syd stepped between them, "I was close enough to Simon that I overheard what Treelatix said," she gazed at each of them briefly, "Z and Bridge busted out."

------------------------

Captain John Bradley sat in his office, shuffling through the mound of paperwork on his desk. He had returned to headquarters, where an agent immediately informed him that Hailey had shown up sporting an S.P.D. uniform and trailed by a Ranger. They had taken his secretary Janet into custody, on charges of treason and sabotage.

Bradley still couldn't believe it. He had suspected that there was a traitor within his ranks, but he never had guessed that it could be his assistant. All the evidence he had garnered pointed at Agent Summers. He now realized that it was Janet's plotting all along; deftly drawing suspicion away from herself and at one of his best agents instead.

He mentally cursed himself for not seeing it sooner. When Janet first came to him with an odd piece of news about his former Agent and her mission, he couldn't believe it. He had never thought Summers capable of betraying the Bureau. But the more the evidence mounted against her, the more he was hard pressed to believe in her innocence. _And of course it would, _he thought angrily,_ Janet had been providing all that evidence in the first place._

He groaned inwardly; it was true that he and Agent Summers didn't see eye to eye, but he knew a good Agent when he saw one. And now...now it was too late. He had dismissed her with barely a second thought and she had picked up the pieces by moving on to S.P.D.

Sighing, he continued digging through the papers when his phone rang, startling him slightly. He stared at the caller id in confusion for a moment, wondering what on Earth would prompt _him_ to call. Reaching over, he snagged the receiver from its cradle. "Captain Bradley here; what can I help you with?"

"We have a serious problem, Captain," Cruger's voice crackled across the line, "The Rangers are missing."

Bradley sighed for moment, "And that's my concern why, precisely?"

"Because Hailey is with them; I promoted her to Ranger status."

_Crap,_ he cursed mentally, "Okay, thanks for letting me know. Do you require any kind of assistance?"

"Not yet, but if Treelatix makes his move soon, I might."

"Alright, give me a call if you need anything," he paused briefly, "And Anubis..."

"Yes, John?"

"Thanks for letting me know about Hailey."

"You're welcome. I'll call you later."

Captain Bradley hung up his phone and stared at it for a moment before sighing and returning to his paperwork.

------------------------

Z peered down the corridor, trying to figure out where Simon and his men had dragged her teammates to. She and Bridge had hovered outside of the doorway, listening in on Treelatix's tirade and she had dared to peek in just long enough to catch the monster smack Sky to the ground. She withdrew quickly; cringing in sympathy for the Red Ranger.

Bridge had caught her expression and when he asked her what was wrong, she told him what happened. Bridge repeated her expression, things grew quiet and suddenly they heard rapid footsteps coming towards them. They quickly scrambled for the shadows; reaching them just in time as Simon and the others pushed Sky, Syd and Hailey down the hall.

Bridge and Z had tried to keep up with them, but were unable to do so without getting themselves caught in the process. Reluctantly, they had to withdraw a bit, meaning that Simon and his goons had soon hauled their friends far out of sight.

Now they stood in the middle of the maze of corridors, unable to determine where their friends might be. Z sighed hugely, "Where are they Bridge? We've got to find them."

"I know, and I know how to do it too." He quickly stepped past her and began to slip off his right glove when Z reached out and grasped his arm.

"Is that a good idea? Remember what you told me? What you went through the last time when you used your powers after Morgana had..." she trailed off for a moment, "Are you sure you're up for this? I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"I'm okay, Z," he smiled lightly at her, "It's not that bad, certainly not as bad as...well, you know," he shrugged and stared down at his hand for a moment, "It'll be okay," he finished quietly as he glanced back up at her.

"Alright; just don't push yourself too much, okay?"

He nodded before pulling his glove the rest of the way off, taking a deep breath. _'Please let this work,'_ he thought fervently. His powers had been on the fritz for some time now and he still wasn't sure why. He focused his concentration and waved his hand through the air, relief flooding through him as a band of bluish-green spectral colors lit the air before him briefly.

Bridge focused his gaze on the area around them, trying to locate a reddish-blue or bright pink aura. He had no idea what Hailey's aura would look like, but if he had to hazard a guess, it would probably be green. _Odd, _the random thought flittering through his head as he scanned the area, _how our powers seem to reflect the color of our Ranger positions. Maybe the morphing grid somehow interacts with them? I should talk to Kat about it once we get back. If we get back..._ Narrowing his view, he caught a faint glimmer of something nearly out of his reach. Focusing further, he concentrated on that brief spark; then letting out a rush of air as he dropped his arm.

He blinked for a moment, feeling slightly disoriented as Z gently shook his shoulder. "Bridge?"

"I found them," he pointed along the corridor, "Fourth corridor on the left. Come on," he grabbed her arm and began to tug her down the hall after him. They followed the passageway Bridge had identified for seemingly miles until they came to a junction in which three corridors branched off. "Shit," he muttered under his breath, "Now which way?"

"I got this," Z spoke from behind him.

"Huh?" he turned to look at her just in time to see her eyes flash briefly and suddenly he found himself flanked by three additional Zs.

She smirked at him, "I figured three corridors, three of me! No reason you have to do all the work, Bridge." She stared at her doppelgangers for a moment, then all three nodded once and split off, each taking a different corridor.

"Uh, Z? What if one of them gets spotted? Then what?"

"Simple; they'll just disappear," she froze for a moment, staring off into nothingness.

"Z?" Bridge asked worriedly.

She came out of her odd trance and focused on him. "I found them! This way!" Z hurried off down a corridor, Bridge hot on her heels.

------------------------

Sky groaned as he tried to wrestle his arms free from their bounds. One thing was for certain, Simon's men were relentless when it came to tying someone up. Sky could feel the rope beginning to cut into his wrists and he wondered how Syd was doing as she struggled to get free of hers.

"Stop!" Hailey's voice suddenly rang out, "Both of you! You're going about that the wrong way."

"You have any better ideas?" Syd asked in a slightly irate tone.

"Sure do." Yanking quickly, she easily snapped the ropes that held her arms together, then strode over to Syd. "Here, let me get those." She grasped the rope between Syd's wrists then pulled the rope apart, freeing her teammate.

Syd spun around and lightly rubbed at her wrists, "Thanks."

"No prob." Hailey replied as she moved behind Sky and repeated the maneuver. "You know, this seems oddly familiar to me."

Sky arched an eyebrow at her as she stepped around to the front of him, staring up into his eyes.

"Yah, tell me about," he replied quietly.

"Hey; did you guys hear that?" Syd cut in as she peered out of the cell bars.

"Maybe they're coming back already?" Hailey wondered.

"I don't think so; not enough noise to be them," Sky replied.

Syd jumped as Z seemed to materialize out of thin air. Placing a finger to her lips, she pointed back to the doorway and the corridor behind.

The three Rangers were puzzled for a moment, turning to look at the corridor briefly, then as they turned back to Z, they were surprised to find her gone.

"What the hell was that?" Hailey asked.

"One of Z's duplicates. It's her power, she can make copies of herself," Sky explained, "Though they generally never say anything."

"Not unless I focus on one in particular, they don't," Z's voice rang out.

"Z! Bridge!" Syd practically jumped up and down as the Blue and Yellow Rangers stepped into the room. "You guys are okay! I was worried sick! Sky was too, of course, but he probably wouldn't admit it, you know and Hailey..."

"Hey Syd," Bridge smirked, grinning madly at his friend "I thought I was the one who rambled on all the time, not you."

Sky shook his head briefly, "Nice to see you guys too; now if we could possibly get the hell out of here?"

"Oh, right," Bridge replied sheepishly, "Do those door hinges happen to be rusty? That's how Z and I got out. They were bad enough that we were able to break the hinges, does it look like we can do that with these?"

Sky stepped up to study the hinges, shaking his head slightly, "It doesn't look like it. We'll have to try something else."

"I got an idea," Syd spoke from behind.

Sky and Hailey turned towards her as Z and Bridge peered through the cell bars. She knelt down and placed her hand on the floor, turning it into the same hard metal. She got back up and pushed her way past Sky. "Get back."

All four Rangers backed off and Syd landed a solid punch directly to the door lock; shattering it into a dozen small pieces. Shaking her hand out, her flesh returned to normal as she calmly pushed the door open and stepped out. "Easy as pie!"

"Whatever works," Sky replied shortly as he followed her out, "Now we need to get out of here. Treelatix is going to attack the city and try to free Gruumm. If that happens..."

"It won't," Z cut in, "We have to stop him."

"But how?" Bridge asked, "We don't even have our morphers."

"That could be a problem," Sky agreed, "We can't let them have access to our technology. We have to find them."

"But where would we start looking?" Hailey asked.

"I know!" Bridge pointed a finger in the air, grabbing their attention "Gruumm had mine in some kind of a lab. I'll bet that Treelatix has something similar here; that's probably where our morphers will be."

"And how are we supposed to find that?" Syd asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Well, Treelatix's ship isn't exactly like Gruumm's, but it's similar enough that I've been able to navigate around it pretty well. I think I might know where that lab is."

Hailey gave him an odd look, "You were on Gruumm's ship? How did that happen?"

Bridge closed his eyes briefly before giving her an unreadable look, "Long story; I'll tell you some other time."

Hailey arched an eyebrow at him quizzically, but Syd caught her attention and gave a slight shake of her head. Hailey took the hint and backed off; whatever Bridge had in his past would have to wait. They needed to focus on the present.

"Alright," Sky broke the uncomfortable silence, practically startling his teammates, "Let's get going. Bridge, lead the way."

------------------------

Treelatix roared angrily, "What do you mean you can't find them? Search again!"

Simon tried to soothe the enraged Troobian by pitching his voice to a soft level while in reality he wanted nothing more than to beat the villain senseless. He was beginning to grow weary of being Treelatix's dog, but once he brought S.P.D. down, Simon would be able to make his own moves. So he continued to play at the subservient role. "Treelatix," he purred, "We have looked everywhere."

"Look again!" Treelatix snarled, "They are here somewhere; there's no way they could have gotten off the ship without me knowing it!"

Simon doubted that was completely true, and it was a possibility that the Rangers had hidden themselves well enough to avoid detection. Brak and Chan were good at delivering beatings, not so good at sneaky. Given their size, it was nigh impossible for them to go anywhere without making a hell of a lot of noise; surely it would be enough to provide a warning to whoever they attempted to hunt.

"Very well. I shall search again," he held up a hand as his cohorts began to move, "Alone." With a curt nod, Simon let himself out of the command deck, intent on finding the two pesky Rangers. _'When I get my hands on them,'_ he thought bitterly, _'Better yet; when I get my hands on __**her**__.'_ Simon never cared for betrayal unless he was the one doing it. He still smoldered at the actions Mandy/Hailey had taken against him. _'And I intend to take it out of her hide.'_

------------------------

Sky mentally cursed at the maze which was Treelatix's ship. _'How in the hell are we going to get out of here?'_ Bridge was trying his best, he knew, but he could tell that their lack of progress was beginning to tell on the Green Ranger. Bridge had only suggested that the two Troobian vessels were close enough that he could probably navigate it, but obviously there were enough differences that he was having a hard time getting around.

Sky wished there was another way they could search. The only two real options they had outside of their current method of sneaking along corridors, was to use Z's doppelgangers or Bridge's scanning abilities. Sky was hesitant to do the latter. Soon after they'd busted out of the cell, Z had pulled him aside briefly to tell him what had happened. She also mentioned the effect it seemed to have on Bridge's powers. She didn't tell him _how_ she knew about that particular detail; citing that it wasn't the right time or place to discuss it.

He let it go, knowing that a serious conversation was long overdue once they were safe back at S.P.D. headquarters. Sky had been in denial for a very long time about the effects of the previous torture on his friend, but it seemed at last to be sinking in. He sighed wearily.

"Sky? You okay?" he heard Syd's soft voice.

"I'm fine; this is just taking too long. Someone's bound to notice that we're gone sooner or later," he shot a brief glance at Z and Bridge, "It didn't seem to take them too long to know that you two were missing."

"You've got a point; but I don't know how we can do this any faster," Z grumbled, "This place is a freakin' maze!"

"I know," he replied quietly.

"I can try scanning," Bridge offered, "I may not be able to pick up where our morphers are, but I can detect where everyone is at, so we wouldn't have to sneak around and hide all the time."

"Bridge, I'm not sure that will help us very much," Z replied, "It might save us some time and effort, but probably not a whole lot."

"Z's right," Syd added, "We're just going to have to keep on as we are. Does anything even remotely look familiar to you?"

Bridge scratched his head as he turned about, scanning the surrounding area. "Uh...no, not really," his shoulders sank slightly, "Sorry guys."

"It's all right," Sky spoke up, "We'll keep looking. Eventually we'll find our morphers and get out of here..." he trailed off as an idea came to him.

"What? What is it?" Hailey asked noting the look that suddenly crossed Sky's face.

He glanced briefly at all of his teammates before replying, "Maybe we shouldn't be so hasty to leave."

"What?!" Syd, Z and Hailey blurted at the same time; Bridge just giving him a look of bewilderment.

"We can't let Treelatix free Gruumm, it would be the end of Earth."

"Yah, we know..." Syd started but Sky quickly cut her off.

"The best way to ensure that it doesn't happen is make it so that Treelatix never gets to Earth."

"So..." Bridge waggled a finger through the air as he thought, "You want us to fight him here? How are we going to do that?"

"I didn't say we would have to fight him necessarily; just make sure he never makes to the planet."

"Sabotage," Hailey deadpanned.

Sky nodded his head briefly. "The only way Treelatix is going to land on Earth again is in a million little pieces."

_**To Be Continued**_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers. No copyright infringement is intended_


End file.
